C2 Brake caliper

[Chris Dixon]

[Joe L.]

Re: C2 Brake caliper

Chris-----

All 1965-82 Corvette disc brake calipers, regardless of specific configuration (i.e. 1st design, 2nd design, etc.) use a chevron seal. This seal is designed to use hydraulic system pressure to increase sealing force. Consequently, the "lip" on the seal faces toward the REAR of the piston. Stated another way, the "groove" on the seal faces toward the REAR of the piston.

It's very important that the seal be installed properly. This includes more things than just the orientation of the seal as described above. If you were to get the orientation wrong, there would be an immediate and huge leak. I doubt that you could ever have used the brakes, at all, with seals installed in the incorrect orientation.

It's also important that the seals be properly installed in the groove on the piston designed to accept them. If you look carefully, you will note that this is a "2 step" groove. The rear "step" is very narrow. The seal must be installed so that it is entirely within the lower "wide" portion of the groove and NOT overlapping onto the very slightly shallower, "narrow" step of the groove.

Also, it's important that the pistons be in first class condition if the seals are to work properly. In this regard, the most important thing to check is the "sealing land" which is the ridge which forms the greatest OD of the piston. This land must be PERFECT. That means if any of the gold anodize is worn away on this land, the piston is SCRAP. Most of the time, when pistons are removed from calipers, they will not be reusable, although, outside of most quality commercial rebuilding operations, many get re-used.

[Chris Dixon]

Re: C2 Brake caliper

Joe Lucia ,

Thanks for the response to my post, you have truly been helpful.