jbird

Hey guys, I know it was really stupid but here goes: On the driver side brake line where it connects to the caliper I was having a lot of trouble with the bolt leaking. I finally got it to quit, but I wanted to be sure, so I tried to bleed the air out of the lines and caliper with a solo bleeder, and then put pressure on the brakes to make sure the connection held, but here's where I went wrong. The pads weren't in the caliper and it wasn't on the rotor, and one piston came completely out of the caliper. What can or should I do now? Any help is greatly appreciated.

MyShibbyZ28

Push it back in. Get a small piece of wood, and a clamp. Clamp it back in until you can fit the pad over the rotor.

jbird

Thanks man, I wound up going to the caliper rebuild portion of install university and figured out how to get in and the boot back in. The brake swap is almost wrapped up, all that's left is to install the pads and bleed the front brakes. Thanks for the help.

wrd1972

Make very sure you are using two brass washers on each hose where it connects to the calpier. There should be one on each side of the fitting.

I would reccomend getting new one from a parts house to ensure you have tight fiitings with no leaks. The only cost a dollar or two.

The piston is designed to be pushed back in with a c-clamp, just remember that the fluid in the caliper will be pushed back in the master cylinder. If you were topping off your resovoir during bleeding it may be spilling over the top, so be ready with the water hose.

jbird

Hey guys, thanks again. Yeah, I had already gone and got the little copper washer things, and used one on each side of the fitting, but for some weird reason, I couldn't get the driver's side to quit leaking for about an hour and a half. I don't know if I wasn't getting it tight enough or what, but I was afraid of stripping the caliper since it's aluminum. While it was leaking and especially when the piston came out I let the front brake side of the master cylinder run dry, so I had a heck of a time bleeding the brakes today. I still don't think they're perfect, because the pedal isn't near as stiff as it was with the LT1 brakes, and it has a lot more travel, but the car still seems to stop a lot faster. Thanks again for all the help, and when I take the car in for an alignment I'll probably just have it pressure-bled. --J.Bird

jbird

Ok, the brakes are done, finally. To make a long story short when I first put the calipers on the car I had been awake for 56 hrs. and was working in the dark, and put the calipers on the wrong sides of the car and it just dawned on me today. Evidently I'd also torn a couple of the piston boots in one of the calipers at the same time. Well, I took it all back apart, put new boots in the one caliper, and swapped sides and re-bled the brakes. OMG!!!! What a difference, the car will actually lock the tires until the abs stops it now on dry roads with sticky tires (F1's). I'm loving these brakes. So far it's hands down the best mod I've done to this car, granted, I've not done many, but it was well worth the time, effort, and aggravation. Thanks again to all who helped.