1971 front & rear Brake Caliper Correct Color

[Paul C.]

Rebuilding the brakes on my 1971 and want to repaint the calipers. The Restoration Guide says front & rear calipers were painted semi-gloss black. Just want to make sure that is correct. Will mask the bleeder screws. Does everything get painted except the bores and the machined edges where the 2 half meet? Thank You.

Tried to install the new lip seals without the special tool. Every time I tried it ripped a piece off the seal. Any suggestions--I did order the tool for inserting the piston with the lip seal.

[Gary B.]

Re: 1971 front & rear Brake Caliper Correct Color

Paul,

Check out this recent thread. I think the same answer will apply to '71.

https://www.forums.ncrs.org/showthre...hlight=beaupre

Gary

[Paul C.]

Re: 1971 front & rear Brake Caliper Correct Color

Thanks, Big Help. The paint is semi gloss black--is that correct???

[Russ S.]

Re: 1971 front & rear Brake Caliper Correct Color

Semi gloss black is correct.

[Paul C.]

Re: 1971 front & rear Brake Caliper Correct Color

Do you paint the flat areas where the bolts go? The small nut opposite the bleeder screw? Should you primer it first. Cleaned it with wire wheel, brake cleaner, and then degreaser.

[Joe L.]

Re: 1971 front & rear Brake Caliper Correct Color

Thanks, Big Help. The paint is semi gloss black--is that correct???

Paul-----


Personally, I think the gloss level on the calipers was much less glossy than most semi-gloss paints. I would call it semi-flat. I have quite a few NOS caliper halves and I'd call the finish on all of them to be semi-flat.

[Paul C.]

Re: 1971 front & rear Brake Caliper Correct Color

Are you saying I should paint them flat black not what's stated in the restoration manual---semigloss black

[Joe L.]

Re: 1971 front & rear Brake Caliper Correct Color

Are you saying I should paint them flat black not what's stated in the restoration manual---semigloss black

Paul------

There are all sorts of "semi gloss black" paints out there. Pretty much all of the ones I've seen have been WAY too glossy.

I would not call the caliper paint "flat black", though. I would call it an extremely low gloss black (but definitely not pure flat black).

[Patrick H.]

Re: 1971 front & rear Brake Caliper Correct Color

Paul------

There are all sorts of "semi gloss black" paints out there. Pretty much all of the ones I've seen have been WAY too glossy.

I would not call the caliper paint "flat black", though. I would call it an extremely low gloss black (but definitely not pure flat black).

Agree with Joe.

Look at the photos of the NOS caliper half that I posted in the other thread. Those should give you a good idea.

https://www.forums.ncrs.org/showthre...041#post760041

[Paul C.]

Re: 1971 front & rear Brake Caliper Correct Color

Paint is hard to judge from pictures. I bought a can of semigloss black engine paint and a can of lowgloss black. Probably will go with low gloss black.

[Terry M.]

Re: 1971 front & rear Brake Caliper Correct Color

Are you saying I should paint them flat black not what's stated in the restoration manual---semigloss black

I am not sure if they still sell it, but GM used to sell a "low Gloss" black that was just the ticket. Most GM parts departments don't stock paint anymore, so it might take some searching to find it. On the other hand GM doesn't make their own paint and someone is labeling it for them. The trick will be to find out who that is.

Edit add: Oops. I didn't see you have already found Low Gloss Black. Good Luck

[Gary B.]

Re: 1971 front & rear Brake Caliper Correct Color

Paint is hard to judge from pictures. I bought a can of semigloss black engine paint and a can of lowgloss black. Probably will go with low gloss black.

Paul,

After you test the low gloss black, if you think it the gloss level is reasonable can you report back and tell us what brand it is?

Gary

[Paul C.]

Re: 1971 front & rear Brake Caliper Correct Color

Do you paint where the bolt heads are----4 bolts.

[Patrick H.]

Re: 1971 front & rear Brake Caliper Correct Color

Do you paint where the bolt heads are----4 bolts.

If it's machined, then no.
If raw casting, then yes.

Imagine a casting painted all black. Now machine it, and whatever gets machined doesn't have paint. When we restore them we do it backwards, so to speak, but if you understand how it was done on Day 1 you'll understand where the paint was removed when the caliper was built.

[David W.]

Re: 1971 front & rear Brake Caliper Correct Color

You might consider a ceramic caliper semi-gloss paint versus a non heat resistant paint. I found that the gloss subsides after a number of heat cycles assuming you are driving the car.