Here is a newbie question.

Can you use a repair kit for early caliper on a late caliper? Asking because the late calipers(2 nipples) I recently bought from ebay seem to have been rebuilt with the early caliper repair kit. They have slack between the dust boots and pistons and the boots are clamped around with a metal clip unlike the ones on my car. I have never restored the calipers but as far as I see Eric's catalog, the rubber boots i/d for the late model calipers are smaller than early one. I can't tell about the seal ring sizes if they are different.

Please educate me.

Thanks in advance,

kkid

Buying rebuilt calipers from an unknown source (or even a known source, in many cases) is a sure way to add junk to your collection of parts. Folks here have often heard my rant against cheap rebuilt calipers. Cardone, one of the big names, sells nothing but junk calipers for 914s. I expect no better from most of the others. If Eric says there's a difference, go with what he says. His shop is one of only a handful from which I would buy a remanufactured caliper, a wheel cylinder, or a master cylinder. Remember, "It's your BRAKES"!

The Cap'n

kkid,
Having just gone through this process x4 calipers, may I recommend that you save your money or wait for Christmas to get a nice set of rebuilts from Eric at PMB? I know exactly where you are - both probably trying to understand how brakes are rebuilt but also saving yourself some money in the process.
That being said, after going through it, I wish I would have sent mine to Eric. I had several issues that I came across, including broken parts and calipers that still didn't work quite the way I wanted them to after I was done. I was in a tight spot and had to get things done before the race, but rest assured I'll send mine to Eric very soon.
The plating and inspection that he does will assure that you'll never have to rebuild them again. I had previously used rebuilt calipers on the fronts, which I ended up having to redo in less than 3 years. Not to mention when I rebuilt the rear, I had damaged parts or things that I was missing to make the calipers complete. Eric has all that stuff and he'll take all of the headaches out for you. In short, the tools and processes necessary to do them RIGHT are outside the scope of what most of us have access to. Which is kind of why I understand how people get into their own specialties. For Eric, it's brakes, for me it's carbs.
And, of course, as the Cap'n said.. its your BRAKES!

Thanks Cap'n and and George for your inputs. I have actually just gotten a pair of rears from Eric and am very happy with them. But I have to admit to be cheap on fronts since there was a good deal from a private restorer on ebay(not a Cadron or Centric). I am negotiating with him if I can return since it's defective as it's leaking from the dust cover during the bleeding process. I will go straight to Eric again when I get the money back.

So are the 2 different repair kits interchangeable among the 2 different calipers, early and late?

Thanks,

kkid

Pelican shows difference repair kits for early and late front calipers. They should not leak even if the wrong dust boots were used. The builder screwed up something else. Might have scored the inner seals.

Yes, there is a huge difference in the front calipers. The early fronts 70-72 were sourced from the VW Type 3. The late calipers were sourced from the VW Type 4 73 model. Early and late use different pads too. Mounting on the struts are different too.

Yeah... but you wouldn't think the piston diameter/bore was different. The caliper mounting offsets and dust seal design, but one would think ATE would have tried to maintain as many of the same parts as possible. Probably only Eric or Bowlsby could give us a definitive.

Ate supplies what the customer, in this case VW and Porsche, specifies. Essentially, while they might make recommendations, they have no say in the final product.

The Cap'n

Cap'n. I guess my point was that I wouldn't think the diameter of the bore changed (and therefore the bore seals) in that run. But I never worked for ATE and I was born long after these cars stopped being produced

Is there a possibility that my MC was making too much pressure for the seal to handle and ended up making the seal blown? The seller said he had performed a pressure test on the calipers and passed.
I have never had a blown seal on any of my cars so I am being puzzled.

Highly unlikely unless there is a defect in the caliper itself. I had a stuck piston on one of mine that I was unable to get unstuck by pulling the pad out and jumping on the pedal... the problem was that it caused the recess that the seal sits in to crack. For your own education, pull it apart again and inspect the bore and recess for signs of rust, pitting or cracks.

This is why Eric replates the entire calipers, including the bores. Remanufactured units do not go to this step, which is why they're garbage.