How to refurbish rear calipers
 

My rear calipers (89NA) are going bad. They make noise when reverse is engaged, sometimes. I priced them at Courtesy and they wanted 221 each. Forget that. I heard you can sand them or something. Anybody know how to do this? How hard is it? How long does it take?

www.speeddreams.net

Re: How to refurbish rear calipers
 

Hey----question for you----have you checked the pads in the rear lately???? The reason I ask you is because every car that i know of since the 50's have an integrated brake tighener in the rear calipers that tighten the pads/shoes when you have the car backing up in reverse-----My guess is that you have no rear pads left and rarely realize this because disc brake cars use a 75% front brake 25% rear brake proportioning valve-----hope this helps

Re: How to refurbish rear calipers
 

I had the pads replaced a while back but I didn't know about this "tightening". How would I adjust this? Or how do I know if that is what's causing the noise? Thanks in advance.

www.speeddreams.net

Re: How to refurbish rear calipers
 

My 87 used to do that. Changed the pads and that was it!

Re: How to refurbish rear calipers
 

Well as for the 89 model I am not completely sure with it rear brake set-up. The one thing I do know for sure is that you should have a Haynes or Factory manual that can help you adjust the rear brakes. My 81 was a tricky monster the first time I did the rear brakes. Unlike a normal piston style rear caliper where you can just push in the piston-----It required the piston to be screwed/turned back into the caliper. Once I had the pads and caliper back on the rotor the Piston had to be turned back out until I could feel a light drag on the pads. As I said your manual should allow some insight the the 89's proper adjustment.
Good luck

O.K. I'm trying new pads
 

I bought performance pads from Motorsport Auto, we'll see if that's the problem. Now that I think about it, it has been a while since the pads were changed.

www.speeddreams.net

Re: How to refurbish rear calipers
 

I don't think disc brakes work the same with the backing up and tightening theory. Thought that was only drums.

...and from the ashes shall rise a new hope. And it shall be known as "Z". And it will be good.