944 turbo caliper reapir
 

I want to powder coat my calipers and for the life of me I cannot find a source for 944 turbo caliper seal kits. Piston sizes are 36 and 40mm
I did find kits with pistons at 54.00 ea x 16 = 864.00 which seems a bit steep.

Just the seals and scrapers will do as . If I need psitons I can have them machined here from 316L for about 8.00 USD ea.

What is so special about these seals anyway? Surely it is a standard seal and scraper that is used in other applications.

Can anyone suggest an on-line source?

Thanks
Robert

hoghead, I had the same gripes awhile ago, and the only way I found them was in a kit w/piston about $45 USD too. I tried Porsche dealers in US, and they said they can only get them w/pistons also :( . I was told the pistons must be changed w/seals, or the new seals will leak :confused: . The pistons are teflon coated for heat and friction that would add a little cost to your $8.00 USD fabbed pistons. I did find out (the hard way) they make two different piston and seal types. My calipers use the pistons with a large groove machined in them to hold the dust boot/seal in place, and came off a '88T (have pic's of both seal, and piston types, side by side). The other type has no groove at all, and the seal has no dust boot. Someone from across the pond chimmed in on my old post about the seals, and said he could get just the seals, but I had already ordered all :eek: SIXTEEN :eek: kits to rebuild mine after I powder coated them.

I broke down and ordered my kit's from www.944online.com and dealt with Steve (sales manager/IT tech). He was very understanding, and good to deal with. I called them with my order, instead of online, so I could ask questions.

are they ripped? or are you just taking them out to powdercoating? If they are fine, Paint them, not powder coat.

Wrench ride - can you please send me the pics or take a look at what I have from a 1988 944T.
My knowledge about these is limited but I understand there is a scraper ring Vs boot to keep the crap out. Mine look like the scraper ring.

I was wondering if these pistons were coated - thanks and that cannot be done here in Thailand. I imagine that this would stop corossion issues and one could reuse the psiton if a seal only kit was available.

Do you still have the across the pond source?
Everything to me is across the pond so mai pen rai (no problem) as they say here.
if the pistons are toast, or damaged when removed, then so be it and I have to bite the bullet but this is a cosmetic mod only and I way well resort to paint as suggested.

Thanks for all the help
Robert

Robert,

I found the "across the pond" info. The guy who told me about it goes by the name tdc911 on here, and the company is in Germany. Here's the web site www.fvd.de. They show the boot/seal like I have, but I didn't look long enough to find the ones you need. Below are some link's to pic's of my caliper halves after powder coating. Please note I did not remove, or coat the mating surfaces, or piston bores. The calipers come hard anodized black/w clear coat for protection. Don't try and remove the black anodizing just the clear coat.

Also, I included two pic's of dust boot/seal (on left), and the type seal/scraper you have (on right). I have a pic of the two different piston types too (mine is on the left).

Painting will be the easiest thing to do, but i'm a detail freak :rolleyes: .!

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g3...0.jpg~original
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g3...9.jpg~original
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g3...1.jpg~original

Looks nice!
My local powdercoater wants to split the calipers as well and I have concerns about reassembling without leaks.
Is there an o-ring between the caliper halves, and have you had any problems with sealing?

Will contact FVD and report my findings to the list.

I cannot help but wonder what is so special about these seals and scrapers. surely Brembo did not manufacture a special part for this caliper model?
The search continues

Robert

No leaks. The caliper halves use a external hard line to connect the pistons pockets together. The holes you see are only for the bolts that hold the halves together ;) .

Great that makes splitting them a non-issue.

Now only to find the seals
The search continues

Hoghead

Please post where you get the seals from, as I have a set of 4-pots that I need to rebuild (ok, maybe don't NEED to rebuild), but if I am putting them on a my Ghia, I want them to be as good as or better than new and I got them used, so what the heck...

Cheers,


Doug

ditto. i am debating about pulling mine off and redoing them. the brush on paint job a friend did for me is the weak link in my external parts. i just dread the work needed to do this and the thought of the blasting media getting into EVERYTHING. i would almost be willing to pay someone else to deal with it except knowing what that will cost.

Zen, when and what color powder coat is all I need to know ;) . I have stripper that removes ALL types of paint and powder coat. So, NO BLASTING. The hardest part of the job is removing those 5mm screws that hold the brake pad retaining plates. When removing the brakes it would be a good time to readjust those spring plates too.

I now have found several sources and it looks like one can do all 4 wheels for 300.00 - at least I think so and tomorrow I should have all the details. I live in Thailand so the time difference and dealing by email is a bit of a delay

My 88 - 944T calipers employ 36/40mm pistons in the front and 28/30 mm in the rear, using the scraper ring design. I have not looked for the rubber boot design as shown by wrenchride

Will report all my findings, prices, contacts etc.

My buddy here in Chiangmai is the local speciality powdercoater, and he uses phosphoric acid to strip paint.

Robert

hoghead, make sure that acid doesn't remove the black hard anodizing in the piston pockets. I would test something else that is hard anodized... just to be sure. If the anodizing is removed from inside the piston pockets, and you rebuild your calipers, there is a chance the heat from using the brakes can cause the pistons to stick. The anodized finish can be powder coated. If your calipers still have factory anodized black w/clear coat, it is very easy to remove just the clear coat, and leave the anodized finish.

I would be very interested in your findings on seals (and of course Zen too). I might need some for future projects ;) .

I was not too clear on the phosphoric acid to strip paint.

His preferred method for cleaning is to blast with very fine steel shot. I imagine this would remove the anodised finish and will go learn more about this today.

Another day without an answer on the caliper repair kits.
Will advise.

Just ordered a 5 point Kafer brace from Lanner so it is all coming together

Thanks for all the help.
Robert

No luck at all in finding 944T caliper repair seals only. All I can find are the kits with pistons at over 1000 USD for all 16 at Pelican Parts.

FDV in Germany looked promising, however after a lot of emails back and forth the result is pistons and seals only at 516.00 Euros plus freight for all 16.

I still find it difficult to understand why these are so special, however may just go to low mileage 996 big blacks to make my life easier.

Robert