Okay, looking good...right?
But wait! I should have checked this first! There's a crack on the passenger side bleeder screw. This caliper won't do anymore :/
....that was an unhappy week. hahah. Anyway, I sucked it up - and made my way over to Stillen in Costa Mesa, who's an authorized distributor for AP Racing. The benefits of living in So Cal
Everything can be found locally! Really, really great customer service there - and they were a great help in working with me to purchase a replacement. The logo had changed somewhat, and the AP lettering is rounded off now instead of squared, so I walked away with an entirely new set of calipers and new lines.
But how am I supposed to replace the AP original aluminum pistons, with the upgraded stainless steel pistons in my old set? (Please keep in mind, I've never done brakes before...so the fact that this tiny little chinese girl has figured this out for herself thus far, means you can do it too! Because my Mech Eng degree be damned, we learned theory - we weren't taught to be mechanics!) Well, bless the internet...turns out all I needed was the right compressed air attachment and some wood sheets to keep the pistons cushioned and balanced to pop out equally. It was annoying since different pistons chose to pop out all the way and remove pressure from the caliper system individually, but it became way easier with each passing caliper.
That's right, these SS pistons are sitting on a Michaels Arts & Crafts receipt. That's where I buy my wood piston cushioning car tools. Where do you buy yours?
Comparison shot.
....anddddd FINITO! (not really)
I stripped the flare not bolts for the hard steel brake line that connects to the flexible brake line on the driver side, and now I'm waiting for Ray at Malloy to save my day with a new hard steel brake line en route....
but for the most part, front calipers, rotors, flexible steel brake lines, brake pads, and brake ducted backing plates are installed!
Just need the driver side replacement hard brake line, duct hose, and to fabricate some fiberglass ducts now.
PS - I also took the time to clean up the trashed caliper....resurfaced it, and repainted it, and now its this really super nifty business card holder that I use at my cubicle
Anybody need a single spare AP caliper? I've got one good one sitting around missing its pair :/
PPS - One car always gets jealous of another. The DD S2000's brakes went out while I was working on the FD's brakes. Talk about last minute reminder on the indicators! I had to rush to get some new Stoptech rotors and pads for my frontsies. Not good driving 80 miles a day on brake pads that looked like this!
