I screwed up

Ground down part of my caliper so my brake line would fit, and nicked the mating surface. Even with new crush washers, the [CENSORED] thing [CENSORED] leaks :mad:.

What can I use to "patch" this? I'm thinking my options are JB Weld (classy!) or some form of RTV. Will either bond properly to a brake caliper, and more importantly, hold up to brake fluid? Or should I just put more torque on the banjo bolt and really try to crush that copper washer down in there? (I'm at ~40 ft-lbs now, I'm really sketchy on torquing it down any more).

Welding/Brazing is not an option; I'm just not that cool. Local junkyard never has any of these cars (seriously), so I can't just go pull another caliper.

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Pictures help. What's the car?

You are basically effed unless you can get the mating surface smooth again.

Options: File then grind with valve lapping compound and something flat until its flat.

Clean the crap out of it. Put some JB Weld in the nick. Use a piece of glass or similar to flatten the whole flange flat. Then lightly file/sand it smooth.

Do not tighten the banjo bolt too much or you will snap it, they do not have a high torque tolerance due to their design.

Basically you need to restore the flatness to the mating surface.

File down the nick so it's smooth and flat again. Thicker washer and more torque?

Those would be the first things I would do. Of course it all depends on what car and the level of unobtainium this caliper is.

Edit: Because I was beaten by a faster typer.

RTV isn't going to hold the pressure. JB Weld might, but I wouldn't trust it. Having the brakes puke can be permanent. I would probably take it to a machine shop and have them reface it. Shouldn't be too expensive. If you weren't on the other side of the world, I would do it for you.

This is one area that I would not attempt to JB weld.

It's on my foxbody. I just got through with my 5-lug swap, and apparently, the only '94-'95 Mustang brakes within 50 miles of here are all on running cars.

THe JB-Weld, shape it flat, then sand it approach is pretty much what I was going to do. The leak itself is pretty small, so I'm not looking at a lot of filler here, what I've got is a channel less than half a toothpick-width deep that's about an inch or so long.

I'll keep y'all posted...

Just for a bit of reference, unbeknownst to me I recently had a very, very minor leak at the caliper. Basically, the banjo bolt was a fraction of a turn loose.

Without any warning whatsoever, I lost all brakes. The pedal went from totally fine to totally on the floor. I sprayed brake fluid all of the my header. Fortunately I was pulling into my driveway when this happened. I was going maybe 15 mph at the time as we're the second house on our street. I just sailed past and waited to scrub off some speed. The scary thing is that I had just gotten off the highway. I hate to be such a Boy Scout, but that small problem could have quickly become a big mess.

Without remembering what the caliper is shaped like, I'd spend a lot of quality time with a good file (don't forget to oil it!) and get it flat again.

Brake pressure will laugh at JB Weld.

If it's an odd or spendy caliper it's possible to clean up the sealing face with a spot facing cutter:

It's hollow and runs on a pilot. That'd be a bolt the same thread size as the banjo bolt hole in the caliper turned down to fit the hole in the counterbore.

A couple minutes and you'll have a nice flat sealing surface.

The Enco import ones are pretty cheap and servicable.

How about this: 1) Find/make a thin flat steel washer the same size as the mating face. 2) Use JB Weld to bond the washer to the mating face. 3) Fixture by assembling the washer, JB Weld, fitting, and banjo bolt, but without the copper washer.Should only require a small amount of JB Weld. Remove any excess JB Weld that extrudes around the outside of the washer. 4) Allow to fully cure. 5) Disassmeble, inspect the fix, remove any excess JB Weld from the interior hole of the washer. 6) Reassemble with the copper washer.

The steel washer takes the compressive force of, and provides a smooth flat sealing surface for the copper washer.

I find it hard to believe this is so difficult to find:

I found every variant of caliper ready to ship at Rockauto for 94-95 Mustang, GTs, and Cobras for cheap enough that it's not worth my life trying JB Weld or some other half-assed attempt to fix...

You could also check say one of the bazillion Mustang forums where just about every part known to man are for sale relativley cheap...

Am I missing something?

I'm with Raze, RockAuto says that Thunderbird LX and SC and Cougar XR-7 had the same capilers for a range of years. The cheapest ones are remanufactured but are only $54 or something. Sometimes the cheapest thing to do is "pony up" and spend the cash. You having no brakes is not something you want your loved ones to have to go through.

Right, use it as a core and exchange it for a rebuilt one...

Don't be an idiot. This is a mission critical component. Autozone has rebuilt calipers for $40 INCLUDING a $20 core charge. Fixing this the right way will cost you $20.

I'm with everyone else, brakes aren't somewhere you want to half-ass a repair like that. Especially when a replacement is so cheap.

Well, my core will be worthless as I've modified it to fit pre-'94 brake lines, which use a larger "box" on the end (the part the banjo bolt goes through). I'll still need to modify any new caliper I get for the same reason.

I'll see what I can do to restore the mating surface without resorting to JB weld. If it refuses to cooperate, I'll drop the coin on a new caliper, and be a little less grinder happy.

Doesn't anyone make conversion lines if thats a common swap? If it was me, Id leave it stock until i could buy lines/have them made with the correct fittings.

My parts store had never checked to see if my core was modified or not.

My parts store doesn't even check if they're for the right car.

Per Schroeder wrote: My parts store doesn't even check if they're for the right car.

Mine either, honestly I've had one of my brake lines rupture at over 100mph and by the 3rd time I touched the brakes went to the floor, scariest moment of my life, riding the crappy rear brakes using the e-brake was not an experience I'd relive. Believe me when I say it is not worth 'trying' to fix at an amature level. I mean if your life is worth $50 without a core charge I'm sorry to hear that...

Buy a new caliper. Out of pocket. Mount the one you screwed up on the wall, as a reminder to be extra careful with critical parts. Chalk it up to the cost of learning. Sometimes it hurts, sometimes it's expensive - but sometimes you get to learn from somebody else's mistakes. Unfortunately, this time you're the 'somebody else,' but we all gotta put our time in on that role.

Someone can make custom brake line hoses for you by using the newer model "box" with the older fitting on the other end. Punt on this caliper and get another one. Get custom hoses made. Sleep well.

yea, I remember well my one and only brake failure. blew the rear piston on the rear drums of my old excel. As that car used a dual diagonal system, I was basically braking on driver's side front and passenger rear and still had 50 miles to go till home...

everytime i touched the brakes, the two either locked up.. or it would try and rotate the car... or both. VERY scary