Brake Calipers and Flexible Hoses

Now that the suspension is completely finished I thought it best to assembly all the brake calipers and flexible hoses, starting at the front.

As the eagle eyed will notice I have changed the calipers to yellow. Not to everyone's taste but I like them just fine. It took four coats of Por15 caliper paint to get the finish I was after. Not the easiest paint to use but well worth the effort. This took quite a while to do. Do be careful to paint in a well ventilated area as the fumes are toxic. I left these to harden for several weeks. The colour darkens very slightly as it dries.

OK then onto assembly. After doing a trial assembly of all the parts, lubricating the necessary areas with Molykote 111 silicone grease the caliper was then bolted, torqued and finally lock-wired in position (sorry no photos of the lock-wiring!). I did this as a complete carrier assembly as I did not want to undo the pins that allow the sliding parts and pads to be assembled after. It worked OK.

When that was completed I moved onto fitting the flexible hoses as instructed in the manual. Before you fully tighten up the banjo move the assembly through its full articulation to make sure that the hose is not pulled and does not kink either. When satisfied carefully tighten but do not over do it else you will damage the copper seals. (also don't forget to add them either!)

One thing I did have to do was to remove all paint under bolt heads. If I had thought a little harder before painting I would have saved myself a lot of work in cleaning the necessary areas. Still you learn as you go along.

Onto the rear calipers now. The process was similar apart from being able to attach the caliper carrier on its own. This was much easier and gave much more access when lock-wiring. For the eagle eyed the flexible hose in only connected at the banjo end. It is adjusted later when I fix it to the bracket on the chassis rail.

Now all completed. I must say that this has all gone well so far. Not easy but very rewarding and at last I feel that I am making some serious progress.

Well that's pretty much it for now. Just starting to mount the fuel tank and think about the brake, fuel and clutch lines. Sorry it's taken so long and I hope that it won't be so long till next time (famous last words!!)