jacobsed

If I get the "Complete O-Ring Caliper Conversion Kit(4 Wheel)
ID: 11312 " kit from VBP does it basically completely new rebuilt calipers when I'm done? Best I can tell it replaces all the internals. Also, when I look at the inner sleeves of my calipers how can I tell if they are stainless stell or not? Just by the color? Can anyone recommend how to make calipers look good? Any paints stand up to brake fluid?

BB68Vett

Not sure about the paint but I know the big auto supply stores sell caliper paint. Anyway, the VBP o-ring conversion kit includes the new pistons, o-ring seals and dust boots, I think. When you take the dust boots off the caliper bores you will be able to see whether or not the bores have been stainless steel sleeved. If they are not sleeved I would highly recommend sending them off to get sleeved or buying sleeved ones on an exchange basis. The piston bores without the sleeves will pit and cause brake fluid leaks.

BTW, I myself tried the VBP o-ring conversion kit but it didn't work very well for me. Some forum members have had good success but the pistons ending up cocking in their bores on my car and I had to redo the whole job with billet aluminum pistons which were a little larger but solved the problem. Just my two cents.

Surfer69

I recently did mine with the kit and they are working fine although putting in the top dust seal gasket was much harder than anyone ever mentioned. Getting it to seat right without distorting was hit or miss. My .02.

ettev

Did you install the new pistons with or without the springs behind them? I have to believe that if the springs are re-used there would be little chance of that problem.

BB68Vett

I installed them per the instructions and I did re-use the springs. I believe my problem stemmed from the fact that the piston diameter is based on a lip seal not an o-ring seal. Because of the increased pressure put on the wall of the piston bore with an o-ring seal, the standard size pistons were cocking and it wasn't just one caliper. I think every single caliper had at least one piston cocking problem. I know some people have this problem and others don't but that was my personal experience.

Turbo-Jet

:confused: what pistons did you use initially? the new o-ring ones in the kit have a different design and should have worked. do you have oversized bore diameters?





[Modified by Turbo-Jet, 3:28 AM 5/8/2004]

Edzred72

Eastwood Company makes a kit/ high temp paint for calipers. Comes in numerous colors.
Eddie

Steve Grodin

The problem is not with the pistons it is the way the calipers were sleeved. Not all companies that do stainless steel sleeved calipers use the same tolerances.

BB68Vett

A little late in responding, sorry about that. Well, in my case the skirt on the o-ring caliper piston needed to be a little different (longer) than the skirt for a standard lip seal. As far as I know, to create an o-ring piston a standard lip seal piston is machined to accept an o-ring, with no other modifications. As I stated in my previous post, the lip seals are less prone to piston-bore clearance issues (on the high side). In other words, at least in my case, the piston-bore clearance was too much for the o-ring piston. I bought larger billet aluminum pistons with longer skirts and this solved my problem. Previously, I had at least 1 piston in each caliper that was cocking in its bore. As far as the bore diameter before I started the initial rebuild, I think the rebuild kit has specs (or I called VBP for the specs, I can't remember which) and I used a caliper to measure the bore diameter to make sure it was within the required specs.

Like I said, my experience may have been in the minority but I know I am not the only person to have suffered this fate.