[TR] Painting brake calipers?

[Karl Vacek]

When doing the calipers for Jill's Midget a few months ago, I really had a 
hard time removing the brake dust.  These were low-mile originals not 
touched since new in 1978, with only minimal rust.  I don't have access to a 
blast cabinet any more, and solvents did little.

I finally tried soaking the caliper halves in diluted phosphoric acid.  It 
stinks - hydrogen sulphide? - (gotta leave it outside).  There was 
tremendous foaming, with a heavy black scum of brake dust forming on the top 
of the container.  The caliper halves came out as beautiful gray iron.  The 
cast iron wasn't dimensionally changed or harmed and the threads in the 
calipers were fine despite my having soaked them for two days

HOWEVER - you can't leave threaded STEEL parts in too long as it will etch 
away the sharp parts of threads (like the bleeders and bridge screws that I 
soaked too long).  But the threads in the cast iron were unharmed.

I too used Dupli-Color aerosol caliper paint and they still look great, 
though it's only a couple of months and a few hundred miles later.

Karl