sometimes the small jobs take a lot longer than you think, the type 12 calipers that came with the uprights need to be rebuilt the parts are on order so the first thing that needs to be done is to strip them down ready for when the kits arrive. an extra pair of calipers came with the parts so best to strip both pairs use the best pair and rebuild the other pair for spares. both pairs had been sitting unused for a long time by the looks of them, the green set had no rubber dust seals and had paint on the exposed parts of the pistons the pistons had seized in the bores the unpainted ones had perished rubbers some surface rust and had also seized in the bores so some how I had to remove the pistons without damage to the bores or the lip that captures the outer dust seals. I plumbed them up to the car using the hose that had been fitted to the front drum brake but to no avail as none of the pistons would move even pumping the pedal like a madman likewise no movement with compressed air. so time for brute force. I am replacing the pistons so damage to them is not a problem the internal fluid lines in the calipers will need cleaned out so I needed to split the calipers apart anyway and this helped getting at the pistons, the exposed edge of the pistons has a lip that holds the outer edge of the dust seal but this was too fragile to use to drive the pistons out with a drift but all the pistons had about 4mm of piston exposed so I was able to drill some small holes into the sides that I could catch a center punch on and by taping one side and then the other I was able to walk the pistons out of the bores, this sounds easy but I taped away like a cobbler for about 3 hours to remove the eight pistons. but in the end the bores show no damage and will be able to be rebuilt after a good clean and paint. in the end I could have purchased new calipers but wheres the fun in that.
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