UPDATE
Hey Everyone,
Thought it is time for me to own up and provide closure on the brake rebuild saga.
In short, it got (half) done, but not by me.
I wanted to wait until I had replaced the front rotors before I posted any pics or updates but at this rate it could take months.
Here's how it all went down.
Armed with as much info I could gather off the internet I was somewhat confident I could do the job, but perhaps not finish within the weekend. At thispoint that was my only concern. (Thank you Gus for the encouragement)
I got up at 8am on Saturday to start the work. Made a trip to the autoparts store to pick up the last things on the parts list (fluid, copper washers, misc. tools, etc) Got home and jacked up the car onto stands.
So far so good.
I wanted to have one caliper off the car fully loaded to see how things went together just incase the rebuild went wrong.
Removed rear wheels and followed the instructions word for word.
"STEP 3 - Remove the caliper mounting bolts"
I got the lower bolt off without too much trouble but I must've spent a good few hours and half a can of WD40 trying to undo the upper bolt until Eureka! I felt the bolt slowly turn. Wondering why it didn't suddenly give way like the other one I tucked my head under the arch to inspect only to find the head of the bolt rounded and still very much fixed tight to the caliper mounting plate.
I wasn't going to take no for an answer and made the mistake of persisting. After another few hours the bolt still had not budged but did look a bit like a rivet.
The sun was setting and I had one last option. A friend of mine who once worked as a mechanic suggested as a last resort to either find a single hex wrench set or oxy torch the bolt, I spent the rest of the afternoon and a bit of the evening searching for a set of special wrenches.
At 8pm, out of time and 24 hrs since my last meal, I finally conceded defeat. Beaten by one bolt.
At this point I was a real mess. I had gotten myself into trouble and now all I can do is take the car to the shop to get me out of trouble. I felt really, really stupid.
At about 9pm I noticed headlights in my driveway. My mate I was on the phone with earlier had turned up, not with the tools I needed, but with alot of extra man power.
I told them that it wouldn't make a difference since the wrench couldnt bite onto the head anyway but regardless they all spent the next hour taking turns at this bolt, me telling them not to worry about it because I'll be taking it into the shop. So at the end of Saturday we had made no further progress but having my mates over cheered me up alot.
Sunday I got up early again and pieced back the caliper, brake pads and double checked any nuts and bolts I had turned.
By Sunday I realised that the Capri was definitely not a "floating rotor" setup.
Monday I took the car into the shop to get the brakes done. It wasn't cheap so I asked the guy to just do the rear rotors, rebuild the read calipers, replace the lower rear training arm and check my rear suspension geometry.
TIP :
The mechanic told me that the brake fluid type can be found under the brake resevior cap. I had purchased the wrong type days before.
So after AU$400 worth of labour the car was back on the road but not worry free. Mech said that the front rotor and brake rebuild will be more difficult (ie expensive) and I'll have about 4 weeks of life left in the current pads, I'll be needing a set of new tyres immediately and worst of all, all my suspension components are now straight, it's my chassis that is bent.
The news sort of derailed any future plans of modding the Capri.
Anyway, here are some pictures.
This is what prompted the brake job
Picture of the tools we used
TIP: Invest in some decent tools, we went out and purchased a Sidchrome socket set after the ordeal.
Parts and guides
The internet is a wealth of information, if only it were the relevant information.
BTW Thank you again Rocketman for the very useful link, it gave me a better understanding of the situation.
The car in the garage, jacked up and ready to work on.
Note, my brother's AW11 MR2 which we later did brake work on; sucessfully. =)
Up on stands and ready to rock.
Check out the underbody flouro light. It's not there for decoration, yo.
And a pic of the bolt, face blurred for its own safety.
Wheels back on
Sorry no after pics yet, it just looks like normal, but cleaner. I'll post up more pics when the fronts get done.
On a side note my brother sourced some goodies for his MR2 including a set of brakes from the supercharged model. As an act of redemption I took on the task of rebuilding his calipers, replacing the rotors and replacing his old brake pads to Project Mu street spec compound.
Cleaned up the new set, replaced all the seals, regreased the pins, machined the rotors, bled the system and before the week was up the job was done, without a single problem. The advantages of a floating rotor setup...
Week after that we did his girlfriends brake pads and knocked it over easy.
I can honestly say I've gained alot of knowledge and experience by taking on the task even though I failed at my first attempt on the Capri.
I'd like to thank everyone who replied in this thread, your contribution proved immensely valuable in my endevours.
