Time for an overhaul of my 1.9 '98 BMW Z3 Individual

[Matt Barnes]

I'm enjoying your thread and loving your attention to detail Matt, especially with the pad springs

haha...thank you mate

 

[Matt Barnes]

I'm enjoying your thread and loving your attention to detail Matt, especially with the pad springs

haha... cheers mate...I always took this whole thing on as a learning project rather than.. let's get this back on the road as a soon as possible...job..I'm very lucky to have three cars which allowed me to devote quality time in learning how to restore a car...

 

[Matt Barnes]

well......one step forward and then stalled..... CALIPERS !! ….. tried every which way I could to get the piston back out to re seat the boot but couldn't... tried fashioning different types of adaptors and hoses and nothing worked...…. then... I had an idea..... I am somewhat of a *ahem* hoarder. Kept lots of classic toys from my time as a kid in the 70s and 80s.... plus I never throw anything garage related away..... and today was a reason why !....

though I've not kicked a football for many years I knew somewhere I had a pack of pump adaptors. Many a drawer was rifled until I found them !.....

so the brain cell started ticking …. in the pack of brake unions I bought, I dug out one that fitted the Caliper.. M10 I think.... then (as it's plastic) wedged the pump adaptor into the end ….

then with a couple of pumps on the foot pump and POP !!!... out she flew !!.... (yes I re enacted it as you can see the piston is already out )

I followed the video that @AntStark posted and can I get that ring into the groove ?... it's like trying to get an eel that has a lube fetish into a hole that he knows is certain death and keeps pushing back...… so at the moment I've taken 5 to gather my thoughts !


well after that little break i decided to have another go.... much wriggling, wrangling including coming up with creative names for the person that designed such a system...... we got there !! .... two boots firmly seated home

 

[Althulas]

Got there in the end

 

[Matt Barnes]

Got there in the end

it was doing my head in !!... every time I got about 5mm of lip in, I'd try the next bit and the previous bit would pop out... I genuinely thought I had the wrong boots and had to sanity check with the old ones that came off, which were the same.....

 

[Matt Barnes]

Ok so this morning was continuing to rebuild the calipers. Maybe due to the temperatures I found it far easier heating up the pin guide sleeves so they were nice and malleable

Smothered them in grease and fed them in Top hat side first, which I found FAR FAR easier than trying to feed the cone end in. By the time I got to the fourth one it was about 30 seconds to fit

For the pins, I struggled at first and then realised there was still paint on the threads of the bracket. Ran one of the pins through back and fourth which cleared the threads out. I took the option of installing the pins while the bracket was in place rather than fitting the pins first. Went in easy !

As you can see .. I work in strict laboratory conditions

I used the Optimal High temp thread paste which I saw recommended on a Porsche site for brake parts.

Then it's just the case of connecting everything up... zinc plated bleed nipples and zinc plated carrier bolts... these will get boxed up until I'm ready to assemble the subframe !!

 

[AntStark]

What paint did you use for the calipers @Matt Barnes ? I am inspired to have a go at rebuilding these crispy old ones off my 1.9

 

[Matt Barnes]

What paint did you use for the calipers @Matt Barnes ? I am inspired to have a go at rebuilding these crispy old ones off my 1.9
View attachment 326853

I used Silver Hammerite spray.......UPDATED with the one I actually used !

used the brush version at first but it looked too crude and you could see all the brush strokes...so ground it down to bare metal and sprayed them