[alfa] caliper rebuild kit

["Wayne Abbott" <wabbott@xxxxxxxxx>]

A while ago I bought a rebuild kit for one of the rear calipers on my 86
spider.  The plan was to rebuild a spare caliper that I had and minimize down
time.  I disassembled the spare caliper and cleaned everything in preparation.
The kit arrived, it was of the Akron brand which someone told me is Italian.
I was disappointed in the quality of the kit.  I had previously used two Akron
kits for slave cylinders.  Although not great those parts seemed adequate.

The o-ring was probably fine but the dust boot looked like it was sand cast at
home.  It was very rough, thin, and had an excessive amount of flash from the
molding process which would need to be trimmed off before use.

As it turned out the kit did not fit the spare caliper.  I thought I had the
wrong kit.  It turned out that I had the wrong caliper.  the kit was for a
caliper with 38mm pistons.  the spare caliper had 30mm pistons.  The o-rings
weren't too big, the piston was too small.  The spare calipers I had came from
a 1600cc engined car.  The 1750 and 2000 engined cars have the 38 mm pistons.

I didn't want to get another Akron kit.  I called several vendors and it seems
that is what is available or the description of their kit matched.  I was
determined to find something better.  The ads and reviews of Autospecialty
brake components, which is a part of TRW and I've never gotten anything bad
from TRW, made me want to get their parts.  I initially found them at
expressautoparts.com.  Since then the web page has changed and Alfa doesn't
show up on their make list when I access it at home but does if I access it
from work.  Very curious, I ordered online but they were out of stock and they
cancelled my order.  I searched the web for another distributor.  I found
Olympus Imported Auto Parts.  They have a few locations in Virginia.  I
contacted them about Autospecialty number KC40009.  Ralph Bull said it was a
good number but he would have to order it and ship it to me because it
couldn't be drop shipped.

The Autospecialty caliper rebuild kits arrived yesterday.  Very good looking
parts.  One kit does one caliper.  The kit includes 2 o-rings, 2 nice clean
smooth round dust boots, and 2 new spring clips to hold the boots in place.
The Akron kit did not include new spring clips.  I don't know when I will be
able to install them I'm as busy as the one armed paper hanger right now and
don't see a break I my schedule until March.  The weather should be milder
then also as we just went from fall to dead of winter this week here in North
Carolina.

The price was within a few cents of the Akron parts.

Ralph Bull made it all happen.

I just learned from Carson Damn that Performatek has genuine ATE kits for the
Milano front calipers.  I don't know if he carries all the Alfa kits.

Why does anyone sell Akron?

Wayne Abbott
Durham, NC
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