Last night I strippd one of my m16 cortina calipers right down (pads out, spilt caliper, took off all bleed nipples + brake lines + seals).

I intend fitting capri 2.8i vented discs which is why i split the calipers (will be getting the spacer kit from rally design)

I have the seals off the pistons, only problem is i'm not sure what to do now! How can I tell if the pistons are ok? I can't move them as they're pushed right back into the caliper.

Should I remove the piston? if so how (haven't got a cortina manual!) I'll get the rebuild kits from gts and know he does pistons as well if necessary.

Is anyone with a cortina manual with any detail on rebuilding m16 calipers willing to scan any relevant pages in or offer advise?!

Thanks,

Ned.

tools required pair of screw drivers.

on the pistons there is a lip that the two screw drivers are used to pry against to ease the pistons out. then check for corrosion pitting etc of ok replace seals and reassemble.

woooh steady there, before you go lunging in with the screwdrivers.

The easiest way is to re-assemble the caliper and attach it to the brake line and use the pedal to move the pistons out.

at least you will know for next time!

I damaged the lip on one of my pistons and the seal will not be water/dirt tight now.

These take some effort to remove with screwdrivers and skinned knuckles aplenty.

IMHO i would refit and use the more controlled method of the pedal.

I just fitted the vented disks and caliper spacers from rally design.

Make sure the spacers they supply you with (to move tha caliper assy over into the center of the new disk) are big enough to allow the 2 upright bolts to go through, mine were not. Had to get the girlfriends dad to turn me some at work.

This kit doesnt look very pretty at all, the spacers you put inbetween the 2 halfs of the caliper are about 2-4mm oversize and poke out of the middle of the caliper. Some carful and accurate grinding is required to make a neat job of it.

Col

thanks for the info so far...

trouble is col, i never had the brakes on the car, neither do i have a spare brake system to attach the calipers to to try and ease the pistons out!

will bear in mind the comments about the spacer kit though!

I guess it'll be the largest, flatest screwdriver i can find, used with carefully applied pressure to ease the piston out. I'm not exactly sure what amount of pitting/wear is acceptable so i'll probably post a pic once i've got em out!

thanks,

Ned.

[Edited on 11/9/03 by ned]

To get the pistons out use an air line and a compressor. One will pop out (or fly out so be carefull). You then need to push this one back in and clamp it - put the air line on again and the other one will come out. by doing this a couple of time you will free it up enough to get them both out fairly easily

Ned,

Didnt realise they were stand alone so to speak.

If anything like mine i would definately try an alternative method of removing them, it took me hours to get them out, levering them out a bit then knocking them back in, out again in again and so on, also they are not too easy to clamp in the vice due to their shape.

I really need to get new pistons for mine, they are corroded at the base and need taking out and cleaning twice a year so stop them siezing. £15 a piston and 20 quid for the seals £80 to recon the brakes, i will stick with taking them apart every 6 months, more fun anyway!

col

i took mine apart a couple of weeks ago and used compressed air, had already split them tho so had to put a rubber seal on me air gun and press it against the hole in the joint. its a good idea to wrap a rag or something around it so you dont damage anything. (or send a piston flying across the workshop at warp factor 12 like me )



Russ.

its looking like i won't have any time to have another go until next week, may well give the compressor thing a go..

quote:

---

Originally posted by ned
Is anyone with a cortina manual with any detail on rebuilding m16 calipers willing to scan any relevant pages in or offer advise?!

---

Dick,

thanks for the offer, i think i'll see how i get on at the moment, but may well get back to you if i get stuck!

thanks again,

Ned.

Ned,

you have U2U

Dave

ned is serously nutty is he from nutty land

[Edited on 16/9/03 by harryman]

[Edited on 16/9/03 by harryman]

Right, got the pistons out of the calipers last week using the screwdriver technique. very straight forward, came out quite easily. one piston is spotless, another has a slight mark on one side (see pic below). though with the seals removed they both move up and down in the calipers easily. should i try a bit of very fine wet+dry to remove the mark or leave well alone?

Apart from that it all went quite smoothly on the brakes front...

thanks all,

Ned.

If the mark is corrosion then the best course of action is to bin the piston, (it will never heal itself).

If its muck, (engineering term for sh!te) you should be able to scrape it off with a fingernail or soft scraper in which case you can then polish away the residue with Autosol or T-cut

Mick

Libraries have loads if old car manuals usually stashed away in a back room, got all my cortina info from there.
Recon M16 callipers are not really expensive about 40 quid, but not locost i suppose
Also see thuis months Kitcar, big article on reconning brakes.

should have a cortina manual coming my way soon. oh and i wanted to recon hte brakes for the exercise/experience and to see the insides of the calipers...

Ned.

For info..... Calipers for Cortina and mk2 Escort appear to be identical.
Same part numbers for spares /pads etc.
i have both and can not see any visable diff that would matter?

Anyone know if this is correct?

Cheers

i *believe* the ford m16 caliper was quite popular and used on several models, so if they look the same they probably are!

all IMHO of course...

Ned.

ps check my website if you want to see more pics of the calipers..

yep, i got some moprod seals, and on the box there is a long list of cars they fit. i would assume they are the same calliper if the seals go on them, but there are the cortinas, capri, a rover something or other and several triumphs. ill post the whole list tommorrow if you like.



Russ.

I'm jsut about to start doing the same M16 strip down and have some more questions: could somebody give me an example of car, model and year that will get me into the middle of M16 territory. Are there any seals between the two halves of the caliper..a bike calliper i had not long ago had rubber o-rings to clamp together. Do the halves have to come apart?, will the pistons slide out sideways when loose from the bore? Oh and the disks that go with these calipers, are they as common as the caliper? Thanks Sheepy

Sheepy,

Dont know what years they were available on but most Cortinas and old escorts had them.

There are rubber o rings between the 2 halfs, only one per calliper, apparently there can be v hard to replace.

The disks are easily come by too, new solid ones will be less than £15 each, or go for the vented disk with the calliper spacer kit which included new o rings and calliper bolts from rally design £20 odd for the kit and £20 odd each for the disks (IIRC)

m16's: cortina mk4/5 (not estates as some had different brakes) 1976-82ish

my capri 2.8i vented discs, £41pair from rally design and spacer kit £23.50ish

yep, rubber o-rings between caliper halves as col says. only reason i split them was to put the spacer kit in. You might get away with leaving them in one piece if you can get the pistons out to do the seals.

Ned.

[Edited on 8/10/03 by ned]

Cooncidentally there's a 2 page article in this month's Kit Car magazine about refurbishing calipers, and the model they seem to have used as an example is Ford's M16.

Judging by the accompanying photos it might be a re-print of an old article but it's still relevant.

Eddy