Rear Brake Caliper

[Jmicester24]

I pulled the rear brake caliper off my 83' Aspy. What is the best way to clean a brake caliper that has old, dried, crystallized brake fluid inside? Do I need to disassemble te caliper? Should I use brake clean or is there something better?

[LAB3]

If you have old brake fluid that has dried up the best course of action is to completely disassemble and thoroughly clean the ENTIRE brake system, brakes are not something you want to put a half-fast fix on!

Chances are your brake lines will have some of that same crystallization in them which will eventually get back to the master cylinder and plug the return hole resulting in a hung up brake so plan on replacing those. You'll also want to consider rebuilding the master cylinder too, I'd strongly suggest it. There's the issue of locking up and also complete brake failure to take into consideration.

Brake cleaner is the solvent of choice, you don't want to be using anything that'll leave any kind of film such as solvent or oil behind. I've used 600 grit paper followed by 1500 grit on the caliper pistons and bores to clean up any corrosion left behind and either a piece of plastic or wood to scrape out the caliper seal grooves, you need to be careful not to gouge them. You're going to want to have nice shiny clean surfaces when you're done cleaning everything up before you reassemble, if the pistons don't slide easily back inside the bore chances are it's because the seals are not properly sitting in the grooves due to corrosion or other crud.

[Jmicester24]

Great! I will do that! I also just ordered a new brake line.
Thanks