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Caliper & Cleaning questions

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JPSmit

JPSmit

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Last night I started cleaning up the caliper castings to paint and rebuild. Two questions

1. How clean is clean? I soaked them in solvent for 48 hours and then went at them with a wire brush/ steel wool and all the brushes I found at my dollar store. (I don't have a parts cleaner nor a wire wheel or anything like that) In some spots it easily came back to the grey of the original casting - in others it stayed black. How far do I need to go? (You can maybe see the variations in the attachment.)

2. In the lower right of the larger casting is a bolt. What is this for? It was next to the bleeder valve.

TIA
JP
 

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JP, What needs to be clean are the piston bores, the grooves for the seal and dust seal, and the fluid channels. The exterior is aesthetics. Don't be afraid to scrape the grooves with a dental pick or suitable tool. I use an old frayed throttle cable, speedo cable, chucked in my drill and run it through the channels. It does a nice cleaning job. The bores are less important than the piston surface. That is where the sealing happens. Critical it is clean and free of pock marks. Peter
 
That makes sense - thanks. I'm still curious about that bolt though

JP
 
Oh, forgot. Sorry. That hole has a tapered seat just like the bleed screw hole. I suspect, though I've never seen it, that on some other car that there would be a bleed screw there. Otherwise, it's just a hole for drilling the fluid channel. Peter
 
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