300ZX Calipers Before & After Pic

[PROJECT240SX]

Hey guys,

Worked on my new 300zx TT rear calipers and took a few pictures that I thought I'd share with you guys. Just waiting on a few more parts to complete my swap. Let me know what you guys think.

Ivan


http://wsm.ezsitedesigner.com/share/scrapbook/12/121165/300zxbeforeafter1.jpg
http://wsm.ezsitedesigner.com/share/scrapbook/12/121165/300zxbeforeafter2.jpg

[SilviaDriver]

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid73/pd25c086cf656146f6798acb40c196cd7/fb7ad660.jpg

[PROJECT240SX]

Sorry guys having problems with the pics. I'll get them up asap.

Ivan

[Drift Style S14]

Damn I knew i should have gotten red caliper paint instead of black. Too late now. How did you get the lettering to look so nice?

[PROJECT240SX]

Originally posted by Drift Style S14
Damn I knew i should have gotten red caliper paint instead of black. Too late now. How did you get the lettering to look so nice?

I painted it by hand.;)

Ivan

[FRpilot]

they are both the same type of calipers? z32 rears right? they look soo different.

would you guys recommend paint calipers or powdercoating them? i heard ppl powdercoat them too but dont calipers get hot and melt the powercoat?

[old_s13]

Im anti-paint, pro-powder coating.

- Mike

[PROJECT240SX]

Originally posted by FRpilot
they are both the same type of calipers? z32 rears right? they look soo different.

would you guys recommend paint calipers or powdercoating them? i heard ppl powdercoat them too but dont calipers get hot and melt the powercoat?

Yup they are both the same except the one on the left is split in half and the other one isn't. I would recommend powdercoating but I am trying Hi Temp paint on these to see how it holds up to the task. If it doesn't hold up I will get them powder coated eventually. Thanks.

Ivan

[CoasTek240]

looking nice

[uiuc240]

the high temp paint won't bubble off from heat, but what *will* happen is over time, little pieces will chip off as your wheels spin down the highway. trust me. and the paint is also harder to clean than powdercoating, so they will get dirty and pretty much stay dirty. they will look fine from 10 feet though :)

And paint is about $10, whereas powdercoating will set you back about 10x that for all 4 brakes. Unless you know a guy...which I don't......

Eric

[cdlong]

GOOOOOO!! don't take them apart like that! there are fluid passages that go through the caliper that might leak now. you shouldn't ever have to take them apart like that, just clean them up and repaint them as a whole.

[FoCaL]

Just so you all know there is high temp powdercoating out there now. It can withstand temperature up to 1000deg. constant and can withstand peaks of high heat up to 1200deg.

I will agree powdercoating a lot more expensive if you dont do it yourself. But if you do, its not that much more at all if any. I bought a powder gun from Eastwood (http://www.eastwoodco.com/), and a used oven from a garage sale. At first I was like this is a lot of money. However, by just powdercoating for my friends I have been able to pay for all the equipment, took a while as I did not charge my buddies much. :D However, now the word has gotten out, I find myself powdercoating stuff on a weekly basis for locals. Seems my prices are much cheaper than the local shops :D Im sure everyone can find someone like me local and get it done for a reasonable price.

If you go the money to invest it IS a good investment, one in which you can always get your money back and then some.

[FRpilot]

how hard is it to powdercoat? is it just point and spray like a spraypaint can? lol.

[FoCaL]

Its easier than spray painting with a can IMO. As long as the item is clean, and it can take an electric charge well, its cake.

Basically what happens is you hook a probe to the item you powdercoate it negativly charges the item. The coating coming out of th gun it positivly charged and it clings to the item you want to powdercoat. Coat everything, then stick in the oven for 20 minutes or so, remove let cool, and your done.

Main things that suck with powdercoating Ive found are, the coating itself it harmfull to breath, you cant touch the item once the powdercoating has been done, so going from spraying to in the oven can be difficult sometimes. You cannot use the oven for food or risk contaminating the food, and making people sick. Clean up can be a pain, it seems like you have more left over than what you put on but I know its not the case. You have to clean the gun with every color change. Not really hard about 15 minutes to clean everything really good, but I try to do everything I want in once color so I dont go changing it back and forth all the time. My home oven limits the size of items I can do, so I made a spraying booth the same size, so I know if it will fit in my booth, it will go in my oven. I made to sit right on top of my oven, so I spray on top, then when Im done move it right in the oven. I also hooked up a fan with a filter to my Dryer Exhaust so the extra powdercoating gets suck away so I dont breath it, and then get trapped in the filter so it doesnt go outside. My original intent for the filter was to try and save the extra to reuse, but it turned out to be to difficult and not worth the little I would get back. There is more, but Im done for now, thats the jist of it.

You might try searching for "powdercoating how to" or something along those lines in google to see what you get.

[jnshk]

Originally posted by uiuc240
the high temp paint won't bubble off from heat, but what *will* happen is over time, little pieces will chip off as your wheels spin down the highway. trust me. and the paint is also harder to clean than powdercoating, so they will get dirty and pretty much stay dirty. they will look fine from 10 feet though :)

And paint is about $10, whereas powdercoating will set you back about 10x that for all 4 brakes. Unless you know a guy...which I don't......

Eric

I painted the calipers on my 2+2 with high temp engine enamel. It does withstand the temperature as you mentioned, but it did not chip from casual use. It only began to chip when I replaced my brake pads and put the clamp on the caliper (I should have used a cloth to protect the paint). The paint is probably not as easy to clean as the powdercoating, but if you use an enamel like I did, it is not difficult to clean at all. Sometimes spraying it off is enough, but some times you have to wipe them a little bit. It is far easier to clean than unpainted calipers were. Although powdercoating may be the better finish, for the money the paint can't be beat.

The key thing is to clean and prep the calipers VERY VERY well before you paint. When I first painted them, I had a few spots that I had not cleaned well enough that bubbled up, and so I ended up needing to strip the paint and redo them.