reconditioning alfa calipers

[chris.richard]

Can anyone recommend a business in the UK to exchange or refurbish a set of 164 calipers?

[BETANUT]

There are a couple of companies I can think of but to be honest I've found it's easier cheaper and much more satisfying :p to do them yourself.
I've seen rebuild kits available on an American website so no reason to think they aren't available here. I'll look into it:D

[mogul_x]

Since we're on the subject of 164 calipers, I thought I'd post a couple of observations regarding installation. I don't know if the condition I encountered is typical, or unique to my car, but it might be something to watch out for if you're going 5-stud.

I tried mounting my rear calipers last week, and ran into a couple of-fit up issues:

First, the pad retainer has a high spot between the mounting holes that prevents it from mounting squarely on the dogbone shaped spacer. It appears that the mounting surface was only milled immediately around the mounting holes, so there is a small patch of "as-cast" surface between the two spotfaces. To fix this, I could either machine the entire mounting surface of the retainer, or cut away the center of the spacer to clear the high spot.

Second, the dogbone spacer itself was too thick. On my car, with the spacer between the pad retainer and rear upright, the retainer rubbed against the inside surface of the rotor. With the spacer removed, the retainer rubbed against the outside of the rotor. The solution appears to be to remove about 0.8mm of material from either the spacer, or the back surface of the retainer. This will center the retainer on the rotor. I need to double check that both left and right hands are off by the same amount.

These are two separate issues. Once I discovered the high spot on the retainer intefering with the center of the spacer, I mounted the retainer using both spacers. (i.e., one end of one spacer under the top hole, one end of the other spacer under the bottom hole) With the retainer mounted this way, the unmachined surface no longer touched the spacer, and would mount squarely. At this point, I observed the thickness issue with the spacers.

I haven't tried mounting the front calipers yet, so I don't know if there are any issues up front. If I run into any problems, I'll post them.

Cheers,

[chris.richard]

Originally posted by BETANUT
it's easier cheaper and much more satisfying :p to do them yourself.


I've had a few quotes - £60 - £85 per caliper:eek: ,so I think I'll do it myself. Can you gritblast the calipers to tidy up the cosmetics, or is it too easy to wreck the bore etc?

[Matt No VAT]

Chris,

I use Alfa Aid for all things Alfa related as they are friendly and always help with advice etc. I'm not sure if they do re-con them but I'm sure they would know a man who does.

They do new & used parts

Any just for future reference thier numbers are:

0845 345 3375 or
01628 788887

cheers

[BETANUT]

Originally posted by chris.richard


Can you gritblast the calipers to tidy up the cosmetics, or is it too easy to wreck the bore etc?

I wouldn't grit blast the caliper, what I do with Beta calipers is soak them in diesel for a couple of days, smelly job:rolleyes: and then strip down the caliper to its 'bones'. I've then always found (with alloy calipers anyway) that the combination of diesel and then an ordianry degreasant that the stripped caliper cleans up like new. Laborious, yes, but worth it!!
If I'm bored I'll then polish up the calipers - I've seen a set for a Vauxhall Nova :mad: (how I HATE those damned cars!!) that were grit blasted and the bores were badly scored. Maybe it's down to the operator, but I prefer to err on the side of caution when it comes to expensive 'bits' :D

[mogul_x]

Are 164 calipers aluminum? Considering the color of mine, I'd assumed they were ferrous, but they could just have a thick layer of road grime on them.

As for grit blasting - you probably could do it, but you'd want to be careful, and mask off any areas that you didn't want blasted. A couple of layers of duct tape will hold up under sandblasting for a short time, as long as you take care to avoid aiming the grit directly at the edge of the tape.

It worked pretty well on the last piece of railroad equipment I blasted, at any rate. Scraping the paint masked by the tape, on the other hand....

[omicron]

but I prefer to err on the side of caution when it comes to expensive 'bits'

certainly NO shortcuts or chances should be taken with brakes. If the brakes don't work, there is little point the rest of the car working.