Alwyn678

augiedoggy

7 years ago I put one caliper from advance auto on my car because the original was damaged and couldnt easily be rebuilt as I did with the other three with a lip seal kit for about $14 (autozone had them) for all and watching a you tube video for instruction. (actually I rebuilt all four but installed the pads incorrectly in one and it shifted jamming and damaging the piston area in the caliper).
Anyway that caliper doesnt have a spec of rust on it to this day so whatever they coated it with worked really well... oh and it stops the car perfectly fine too as most brake parts from an auto store would I imagine. My caliper was like $45 after the core charge.

Jebbysan

I have used the Lone Star units many times and they are high quality.......spend the extra $50.

Jebby

forman

I have rebuilt them several time my father owned a brake shop here in jersey now closed we did them all the time

augiedoggy

Another cool thing about the caliper from advance auto besides not rusting was that both the pistons and sleeves were stainless unlike the aluminum pistons my calipers originally came with which are a bit pitted

78pace

I put two calipers on the 78 from O'reilly's about 4 yrs ago. No problems yet....don't forget any cores that you have to ship back going to cost.....there is some weight there.

Peterbuilt

Buy them at the local store.
Keep your neighbors that work there employed.
When one leaks, you get a free replacement on the spot.

Alwyn678

I must agree w/you on shopping local but Lonstar seems to offer a Superior product at a close price including shipping.

Gale Banks 80'

I'm all for buying local at the near by parts store but You might ask if they were done behind the counter or was there a foreign country involved ?

Tiger Joe

Around me Oreillys doesn’t have Original Delco calipers that have been rebuilt. They are aftermarket castings.

personally I try to stick with original delco castings

pltmgr

Bought a caliper from Oreilly's about 10 years ago. It leaked after two years. Got a free replacement which has not leaked and is now 8 years old. As with anything quality may change over time.

Mick71

Lonestars on mine are ten years old with no leaks.

augiedoggy

But were the original casting really superior? if so how?
I mean they were prone to issues such as dissimilar metals being used which promoted corriosion and pitting which lead to their failure in the first place and many being sleeved with stainless bores to begin with. The caliper I bought does have oem markings on it and the fact that they required the core tells me they are refurbishing and doing the needed upgrades.
Many of these caliper leak simply because of the lipseals that OEM used and not necceasily from other wear or damage.... The oring design supposedly resolves this problem and is simple to do on any caliper thats not already otherwised damaged.

sometimes these seals will start leaking just from sitting. the following spring after rebuilding mine I had a rear caliper leak onto my garage floor. after simply pumping the brakes a couple times the leak stopped and hasnt returned in the 7 years since.. I used oem style lipseals when I rebuilt mine because its what my local autozone stocked and they were only $14 for the set to do all four calipers.

kissarmy007

I went with lone star (lip seal) bought them from corvette America fronts and backs. Let’s just say I wasn’t happy with them the backs were fine. The front both leaked from the start so I had to send them back , waited for the new ones installed them they both leaked sent me 2 new ones, every thing ok for about 6 months and one day go in my garage and See fluid on the floor front was leaking. I just purchased a rebuilding kit o ring from cbbinc.

TedH

Given the age of original equipment, it is very likely that 99.9% of the Delco Moraine calipers have been professionally rebuilt at least once.

When my latest pair of rear calipers failed, I took them to Van Steel and had a surprise: They are 'generic' calipers (not Delco manufactured). So, they were not good for core charge but Dan agreed to rebuild them for me (clean, silver or black epoxy finish, Bore and new stainless sleeves, upgraded pistons and seals and pressure test).

In the 70's, Van Steel set the standard that others tried to imitate/duplicate for rebuilt Corvette steering, brake, rear spindle assemblies, differential, suspension and other and driveline components. They even do chassis rebuilds (at least they still did the last time I checked their catalog).

I had the privilege of living locally in FL when I bought my tired C3 in 1997. I soon found Van Steel after recommendations from, at the time, the Yankee Lady BBS. I took my (then) rebuildable calipers, half shafts and then rear bearing assemblies to them and have become a repeat customer. They are my GO TO rebuilder for those systems on my C3. What impresses me most about Van Steel is they have kept pace and exceeded the industry for the corvette generations that followed the 70's. I have total trust in their product and reputation.

If it were me and Van Steel was a viable option, I would not hesitate to send my rebuildable cores to them.

SilverC8

Did they have any immaculant cadillac converters or manuel transmission mounts? Which caliber were the brakes?

augiedoggy

^ I'm not so sure the numbers are that high.
The calipers on my 74 were original and not sleeved, 103,000 miles on them when I bought the heap at the time and the original rotors (which still look great) but the aluminum pistons were pitted and I needed to clean them up with a scotch brite pad. They are not sleeved either which also surprised me

Tiger Joe

IMO yes. Original ac delco calipers are superior. The crappy no name Chinese knock off casting is just a copy. They still use lip seals so not like they improved anything.

also some of the corvette specific shops won’t accept non delco calipers as cores. So that says something as well.

augiedoggy

Ok good point I just figured the chinese calipers could likely be sleeved and use steel or stainless pistons from the get go... But I bet those shops wouldnt except any non delco calipers, even wilwoods.. because their machinery and jigs likely are setup for the delcos alone not because of quality. and I believe most refurbished Delco brakes for c3s still come with the OEM style lipseals. When I was researching for rebuilding mine I had read most failed due to pitting which damaged the lipseals, that and corrosion caused from the aluminum piston in contact with the steel caliper.

Kerschmolar

Looks like you’ve done some great performance enhancements with your car, why not brakes? If you want the best performance brakes spend the money ($1000-1500) and get Wilwood direct replacement aluminum calipers. These are made from billet aluminum and high-temp seals in exactly the same shape as the original iron ones. My auto store replacement calipers leaked twice after a year or two, but I didn’t know much about buying quality parts at the time. The Wilwoods fit exactly the same as OEM; easy to install. Also, changing rubber brake lines to braided SS gives your brakes a little more mph. There’s a previous post I saw here on the forum that explained how to bleed the brakes after install, as an air pocket tends to form due to the location of the bleeders. I have two almost identical ‘78’s; one with OEM brakes, the other with Wilwoods. The firmer braking I attribute mostly to SS brake lines, but the aluminum sheds a significant amount of unstrung weight; you can actually feel when driving.
I noticed that Wilwood now has the same calipers available with six pistons and rainbow of color choices. Even lighter race versions are also available. If you can see the calipers thru the wheels, you’ll be very pleased with the esthetics as well.