Replacing brake calipers and pads on 1979 fiat 124 spider

[1979fiatspider124]

I am wanting to replace both my brake calipers and brake pads, can anyone recommend the best spot and type to get them?

Thanks, Titus

[DieselSpider]

Your local OReilly may have them in stock or available withing 24 hours and they have them available as kits with the springs, retainers and slides included for reasonable cost and no shipping.

https://www.oreillyauto.com/shop/b/brak ... 9/fiat/124

You can also get them from the forums Sponsor Vick Auto Sports or Auto Recambi. I try to support local if at all possible and then the forum sponsors. All three are good choices however local provides for easier returns, core exchanges, etc.

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Good suggestions above, and I'll just add a plug for Midwest-Bayless in terms of getting parts, as they have been very helpful for me in the past.

-Bryan

[PaulC]

Why not rebuild what you have?
Rebuild kits with the necessary seals are cheap ($8 for a pair) and the caliper castings are pretty bulletproof as are the pistons.
The castings and other bits clean up nicely with a wire wheel. The piston can be polished with some emery cloth.
To wit, before and after photos:

[18Fiatsandcounting]

To wit, before and after photos:

Very nice! You can also polish aluminum parts to a mirror-like finish (lots of YouTube videos on this).

-Bryan

[Dave]

I have been using Midwest-Bayless, but I'm new to this. Currently rebuilding by calipers on my 79 as well.

[mikewof]

Hi All,

On my 1975 124, it has been sitting inside the garage since 1988 or so, but it's in good shape, just freshening her up. I pulled the back pads, and they were like new. Odd, no wear. But I padded it, and then I look to bleed it ... I can't find the bleed valves. But I clean up the caliper, and it seems the bleed valves are either missing or broken off on both sides ... no wonder the pads were like new, I probably had no rear braking, but I never noticed it when I was a teenager. For all I know, the bleed valves were missing when I bought the car in 1983 or so.





So you experts, what's your opinion on these photos? Does it look like the bleed valves were broken off? Something else that I don't understand?

1. I can try to back them out with an extractor
2. Failing that I'll have to replace the calipers, ideally JUST the calipers, without changing the whole thing. But does anyone still make those wedge-type calipers? It it a PITA to connect hydraulic lines and parking brake?
3. Any recommendations on calipers?
4. If I'm able to back out what is in there, any suggestions on where I can get replacement bleed valves?
5. What about rebuilding the calipers? Any parts sources for the cylinders and bleed valves?

Thanks!

[aj81spider]

Autoricambi has the calipers if that's the route you decide to go. I didn't check, but I'm sure the other vendors carry them as well.

https://autoricambi.us/rear-brake-calip ... e-over-10/

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Yes, your bleed screws are broken off. As A.J. noted, calipers are pretty easy to come by, and you might even be able to order them through your local auto parts store. I'd trust the Fiat vendors more, though. Replacement bleed screws are easy to come by, too.

And yes, broken bleed screws can sometimes be removed. Remove the whole caliper from the car (easy to do), put in on your workbench, soak the bleed screw threads as much as you can, overnight, with your favorite penetrating fluid. I often heat up the remainder of the bleed screws with a small propane torch. Just gently, and nothing more aggressive than propane. With a punch, tap gently on what's left of the bleed screw (helps to dislodge it).

You might need to drill out the center of the bleed screw a bit more to get a screw extractor in there, but be careful not to go too deep as the sealing surface is actually at the bottom and if you scar that up, the new bleed screw won't seal.

If you can get a screw extractor in there, you stand a reasonable chance of removing the broken bleed screw.

I'd give it a try, because you're going to have to remove the caliper anyway, and you might as well let it soak overnight and give it a go, and if it doesn't work, buy a new caliper. You've only lost a day at that point.

-Bryan

[PaulC]

Spiderroadster.com has all the individual parts one would need including the bleeders at quite reasonable prices.

[SteinOnkel]

I had the same issue on my rears. Drilling them out is no fun, it takes forever. And once you have them out, you can't get a tap in there deep enough, because the cavity for the bleeder is tapered.

I ended up replacing the calipers entirely.

[ORFORD2004]

Use a mig and weld a nut over the bleeder.

[DieselSpider]

I had the same issue on my rears. Drilling them out is no fun, it takes forever. And once you have them out, you can't get a tap in there deep enough, because the cavity for the bleeder is tapered.

I ended up replacing the calipers entirely.

You need to use a bottoming tap for bleeders. Watch out for brake bleeder repair kits since they often have bright brass parts that will eat away at the aluminum calipers. Bright brass replacement seats and threads are really only good for iron calipers.



If you can find these kits with all steel parts you can repair an aluminum caliper with a damaged bleeder seat:

[SteinOnkel]

Bright brass replacement seats and threads are really only good for iron calipers.

I doubt that; wilwood (and most other performance calipers) are shipped in exactly that configuration.

[DieselSpider]

Bright brass replacement seats and threads are really only good for iron calipers.

I doubt that; wilwood (and most other performance calipers) are shipped in exactly that configuration.

The ones installed on mine tell a far different story since there was galvanic corrosion of the aluminum threads that was so severe that a new insert could not be installed since they had already used the max size ones available so no drilling out and tapping to the next larger size was possible. With the correct bedding compound to limit galvanic corrosion applied in a sanitary factory environment to pristinely clean new calipers they may hold up better however as a DIY solution applied to a used caliper go with bleeder repair kits that are fully compatible with aluminum.