[DeTomaso] Rear Caliper Rebuilding

[JDeRyke at aol.com]

Rebuilding our brake calipers is not difficult since all thats required is to 
remove the piston(s), clean them with scotch-brite and replace the square 
rubber sealing ring in the caliper bore. All Pantera vendors sell 'rebuild kits'. 
The job is very messy, though. The Pantera's rear caliper is particularly 
easy since once the caliper body is removed from the e-brake assembly, the piston 
and the self-adjusting mechanism slides out of either end of the caliper body 
intact. I suggest not messing with the self-adjusting mechanism- it's very 
complex & there are no spare parts. A little Girling Brake Lube is applied to 
the new square ring before inserting it into its groove in the caliper body. If 
you have back issues of the club newsletter, in the Aug 2002 POCA News, I went 
thru the rebuilding of all the calipers in detail.

If you're doing this because its time for service, good for you! If you have 
a leak though, I suggest VERY carefully examining the piston surface for tiny 
pits. European brake pistons are almost universally made of chrome or 
nickel-plated mild steel, and water in old brake fluid will worm-hole thru any plating 
to rust the underlying steel. Ragged rust pits protrude and tear the rubber 
seal as it slides by, eventually destroying it. Just putting a new seal in 
won't fix the leak in this case. U.S brake pistons including Wilwood & other 
aftermarket units are stainless steel; this leak problem does not exist. There are 
no replacement pistons for our Girling calipers, either, nor for most of the 
Euro calipers made in the early '70s. When one piston in my Porsche alloy 
calipers (used in our Pantera's rear) leaked & I found pits, I searched the world 
for replacements & finally made some pistons from billet stainess. Good luck- J 
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