Reply to "Stock Brake Caliper Modification"

In rebuilding stock calipers, one thing that sometimes causes problems is, European brake caliper pistons are often nickel-plated mild steel, not stainless as in the U.S. So water in calipers not only rusts the bores, it wormholes through the plating and pits it. Then the pits tear up the seal and you get a leak that cannot be fixed by simple seal replacement.

This happens not only to Panteras and Mangustas but Ferraris, Porsches and other Euro-exotics. Finding stainless replacement pistons is difficult enough that I've had to make replacements from 312-ss from scratch. Some shops that restore old Porsches etc chemically strip pitted plating from caliper pistons, re-polish and re-plate. Fabricating from scratch is actually cheaper than all this & results in a more durable piston.

For show cars or others that are seldom driven, putting a small paper packet of Drierite in your master cylinder seems to absorb moisture from brake fluid about as fast as the fluid pulls moisture out of the air. NOTE- I assume no liability for my suggestions! I started doing this 5 years ago as an experiment and so far, no bad effects. The action inside a master is mild enough that the paper packets do not get torn up.

I do NOT recommend silicone fluids in brakes for any reason if the vehicle will ever be driven on public roads. The stuff is simply too hard to bleed air out and is unpredictable in operation. It also does NOT keep moisture out of the brakes; instead, because water is insoluble in silicone, moisture condenses in low spots of the system and sits there rusting! A motorcycle I worked on that used the stuff had a line freeze solid in winter, causing total brake failure until it warmed up. No race team on earth uses silicone fluids and you should not either!