Caliper upgrade

Mick Cliff · Post by **Mick Cliff** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 5:22 am

Mick Cliff wrote:then I'll get stuck into the conversion...

All calipers now fitted, 'only' have hydraulics to sort out... Will add pictures later

Mick Cliff · Post by **Mick Cliff** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 8:37 am

At the front from this....

To this....

And at the rear...

Calipers from Porsche-Apart (used)
Adaptor kit and lines from TRE Motorsport
Front discs from Berlyn
Rubbering kits from Pelicanparts
Pads from.... ain't got these yet

Straight forward conversion, installation of adaptors, calipers and lines took 4 hours (you younger lads might be quicker. Suffice to say that I'm nearly at retirement age and the effects of working in the garage yesterday have rendered me almost immobile

). Just need to torque all fixings, install pads, install new dust covers to brake pistons (16 of 'em!), complete rear fluid lines and then bleed off.
Anyone got any GOOD tips for one-man bleeding? Have used Eezibleed before, not very successfully, and considering some form of vacuum bleeing system this time (Mityvac?)
Alternatively - any Northern lads with time on their hands next weekend?

hot66 · Post by **hot66** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 10:30 am

Mick, I can help at some point .... maybe one evening this week ?

How about we organise a DDK get together at a local pub too ?

I've also got a good one-man pressure bleeding kit too

Mr Pharmacist · Post by **Mr Pharmacist** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 3:41 pm

Mick, depending what evening it is i could give you a hand - pass you spanners and stuff (not much good at anything too technical though!!)

Mick Cliff · Post by **Mick Cliff** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 6:42 pm

Thanks James and Stuart, much appreciated...

The plan is to finish the hydraulics next Saturday (I hope to have all the parts by then

) then maybe bleed off the system on Sunday - unless I've been organised to do other things

No real panic - it's not going out in this weather.

hot66 · Post by **hot66** » Sun Jan 11, 2009 7:34 pm

let us all know when you're ready Mick

58A - 71E · Post by **58A - 71E** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 9:04 am

Hi Mick
I'm just down the road from you and have a foot available next weekend if you need it - nice way to go with the Boxster calipers

gridgway · Post by **gridgway** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 9:10 am

I didn't know Yorkshire had so many people in it!

Graham

hot66 · Post by **hot66** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 9:28 am

gridgway wrote:I didn't know Yorkshire had so many people in it!
Graham

there's loads of us up here ... come along & join us on one of our drives out, we have some of the best roads in England

Mick Cliff · Post by **Mick Cliff** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 12:03 pm

58A - 71E wrote:Hi Mick
I'm just down the road from you and have a foot available next weekend if you need it - nice way to go with the Boxster calipers

Thanks James.
May take a little longer than I first anticipated as I'm not too happy with long flexies as supplied by TRE as I can't visualise what happens when the suspension compresses and the wheels go left/right - there may be some fouling issues.
I'm thinking I may go for some new short hard lines and shorter flexies.
Still waiting for a few bits (pads; dust rubbers; etc).
As long as the Northern guys are on standby I'm happy

Mick Cliff · Post by **Mick Cliff** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 1:01 pm

hot66 wrote:I've also got a good one-man pressure bleeding kit too

Care to name names James

hot66 · Post by **hot66** » Mon Jan 12, 2009 8:26 pm

can't remember exactly teh make, but I'm pretty sure its one of these :

http://store.motiveproducts.com/shared/ ... =892829537

Mick Cliff · Post by **Mick Cliff** » Mon Jan 19, 2009 8:17 am

hot66 wrote:let us all know when you're ready Mick

Looks like I'm almost complete

All fitted up and initial bleed is done but not 100% confident that ALL the air is out. Will try some more through the week - using 'Eezibleed' (which I had) and some one-way valves (from Halfrauds).
DOT 5 fluid ('cos it was on the shelf at Halfrauds!)

Tip - for anyone fitting new dust covers on Boxster calipers (Brembos).
Fit the seal to the pistons BEFORE pushing the pistons into the bores. Ask me how I know

Had to partially strip to sort this out...

Mick Cliff · Post by **Mick Cliff** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 6:31 am

Boxster braking conversion completed yesterday.
Bled the system once more and got a goodly amount of air out of the system.
Mopped up half-a-litre of brake fluid off the garage floor as I forgot the overflow pipe when I pressurised the system

Wheels back on and a short test drive to bed in the pads.
Initial reactions - not very good

, but after 50 or so miles of bedding in the pads things improved a bit.
Initial 'bite' from the pads is not very impressive, but press the pedal harder and longer and the set up sure does work with a significant improvement over the original 'S' set up.
The improvement seems to be a function of temperature.
I'm using 'standard' (for Boxster) Mintex pads.
Next step? Check for leaks; check all nuts, bolts, connections for security; more bedding-in mileage; more temperature; maybe one more bleeding session after the bedding-in process.

Barry · Post by **Barry** » Sun Jan 25, 2009 10:00 am

A quick tip with 'brake bleeding'.

If you find that you seem to be getting almost no air out of the system, but you're convinced the pedal is still soft, get someone to press the brake pedal up and down (hard) while you watch how each pad contacts the disk.

Chances are quite high that at least one pad isn't exactly square to the disk, and is being flexed slightly: usually a few miles on the road sorts this out.

I went through 4 one litre cans starting with a new system on the Gulf Blue car, but no real change after the initial fill. tried everything, Eezibleed, one way valves and traditional two-man bleeds. Finally (after a few evenings) spotted one pad being flexed, drove the car for a bit, and ended up with a granite pedal.

BTW, I've always found the ultimate combination to be the Eezibleed coupled with two-man bleeding: i.e. bleed the brakes as though you weren't using the Eezibleed, which is there for topping up and extra 'push', plus insurance against sucking up air.

For my money, I don't like Miti-vacs for brake bleeding, as by it's very nature you're trying to judge when your brakes are bled by observing bubbles. Trouble is, you are pulling a vacuum through a bleed nipple that has an open thread, so that you don't know if any air has come via the system, or from around the nipple.