This is heresy.. but I find there are only a few torques that actually matter: Snug: for little itty bitty things. Firm: for things that use a 1/4" drive... Tight: About as far as I'd go for anything threaded into Al... Really Tight: When I have to use a bit of leverage to get there.... Really Friggin Tight: for things that use a really friggin' big wrench! And the last: Oops! This is when the bolt is in two peices. Now, there are some things that I'm adamant about using a torque wrench on, but the rest usually get one from the above list. The caliper bolts get the "Firm". Matt
I used this old fashioned method to find out... Called Outlaw and asked. They said 35ft/lbs on the bridge bolts.
I learned about the Oops when I was doing the shocks on my 94 Explorer. Bolt was stuck, got a 1/2" drive breaker bar and a 4' peice of pipe. Pulled the stud right off the suspension member! The fix was BFD > BFH > BFB > Lesson Learned... Translated "big friggin drill > big friggin hole > Big friggin bolt > now I usually know better!" Matt
Thanks for that--that was the next step... Now will you call my mother-in-law for me, and ask her please not to come in October?:devil: Wish I could do the Dr. O method of torque, but anal retentiveness gets in the way--that, and the fact that I'm perfectly capable of completely screwing up pretty much anything mechanical, if given enough time and not enough information, despite my grandfather being one hell of a mechanic...
Got the final plan now. Way talked to Outlaw, and they'll rebuild the caliper for a very reasonable price. Way also checked into a replacement caliper--I went ahead and bought it--unfortunately it's not silver, but the traditional black, but it was reasonably priced. Should have it in a couple of days. So I should be able to make it back on the track Oct 2nd. Wonder how many people will notice the non-matching calipers; should be fun. Have to take some pictures... After I get the black caliper on, I'm going to take apart the one that's acting up--if it looks like it's the o-rings, I'll fix it, and be done. If it's not the o-rings, I'll send it back to Outlaw via Way for the rebuild. Eventually I want to get the silver one back on, and keep the black one as a spare. Either way, things are looking up. Thanks everyone for all the help, and props to Way and Outlaw--a fair amount of phone calls happened to get all this done; I appreciate it!
Update--took the faulty caliper off and apart--o-rings looked ok, it looks more like a cylinder issue. Frustrating, because I just changed all the seals. Anyway, I ordered another caliper from Way, and I'm glad I did, because I give up on the other one. I've had issues with it from day one. Anyway, got a good price on a replacement--only problem is it's black. I'm looking kind of ghetto right now, with one black caliper, one silver.... Options are send in the old silver caliper for a rebuild, buy a new silver caliper, or a black caliper for the opposite side. I have no faith in the old caliper, so a rebuild is pretty much out. I'm thinking I might just buy a black one for the other side, if I can get it at the same price as the one I just got--it actually looks nicer than the silver one, on my car. At least there's no leak now, and the brakes work great.
I am sure that if you sent Jeff at TSW an email he will be able to tell you who in Dallas did the silver anodizing for them. If you need some local help, I live in Dallas and would be willing to help you out.
No one... not even me, looks at both sides of the car at the same time! One of my daugters has slightly different color eyes.... As does one of my cats! Think of it as an automotive birthmark! Matt
The cool thing is Outlaw is literally up the road from Way--really nice that when TSW sold, it went to someone close to Outlaw. Upshot is the silver anodizing is available from Way/Outlaw, but the problem was timing--there aren't any in stock with the silver anodizing, I have a track weekend October 2-3, and turnaround time wasn't going to work--I'm at a conference for part of this week, and I had to get the caliper on this weekend to be ready for next weekend. The silver anodizing is a nice finish--when you clean them up, they look brand new. The black calipers look better on my car though, just hope they don't turn purple eventually, like my Wilwoods did. I'm not in any hurry, so I'll stay with mismatched calipers for now, but long term I'll probably get a black one for the other side to match, especially considering the price Outlaw/Way gave me for all my trouble was very reasonable. But thanks for the offer--I appreciate it!
The black anodize will turn purple if the brakes are used properly. I haven't seen it on the outlaw calipers, but any race caliper I have seen looks like eggplant after a couple of track days.
It's the nature of black anodizing. Heat and UV are the enemy. FWIW the Wilwood Dynalite seals will fit this caliper also if anyone is out looking for them locally and is not near the Outlaw folks.
Any performance difference? I assume you mean the Wilwood Disc Brakes 130-2658 - Wilwood Brake Caliper Rebuild O-Ring Kits versus the OUTLAW DISC BRAKES Caliper Seals Square1.38in ORB-225-2265.
todd will correct me if I'm wrong but the Outlaw is a Dynalite knock off and all seals interchange.... Matt
Yes, I said this elsewhere. It's not the caliper model of choice but the bore size is all. In the Wilwood line we use the same 1.375 seal in probably 8 different style bodies (?).