Date:         Sun, 25 Apr 2010 08:16:05 -0700
Reply-To:     Shawn Wright <vwdiesels@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Shawn Wright <vwdiesels@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Shocks and brake job, one question
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Today I hope to finish my shocks and brake job - here's what I have planned:

- new Bilstein HDs
- new MC & fluid
- new rear drums, shoes, wheel cylinders, hardware kit, cables
- new front pads (rotors turned, rebuilt calipers 15k kms ago)

I pulled the calipers & carriers off last night. The cheapo (from CIP) pads
showed some cracks and a small piece missing from the edge. They were also
worn more than expected - down to 9.5mm from 14mm in only 15k kms, so they
would have been done by 50k kms or so. I decided to file down the mating
surfaces of the caliper carrier to get most of the worn spots smoothed out.
I wonder if there is a wear limit for caliper carriers? I snugged up one
wheel bearing that was a bit loose. Rebuilt calipers still look good, mostly
shiny with nice cadmium (?) plating. I installed new PBR pads from BD, I
notice they are made in Australia, brand name Axxis Metal Master, made by
Mintex Bendix... interesting, so are Mintex and PBR the same pad? Definitely
a metallic or semi-metallic pad.

New drums are painted with high heat paint ready to go on. New Enduro shoes
from autohausaz (bought these before reading advice about better choices)
look decent, and appear to use a semi-metallic compound.

Still need to do MC, re-assemble rear brakes & flush system.

One question - how do I deal with the clutch supply hose at the reservoir? I
was going to bleed down the fluid at one caliper, then remove the clutch
hose, then reservoir, then MC. Should I just cap off the hose? I will plan
to bleed clutch also when I'm done. I do have a spare clutch master/slave,
but wasn't planning on doing that just yet. With my luck, maybe I should.

I look forward to having decent braking again soon!

--
Shawn Wright