Identifying S-Calipers

[Neunelfer]

I thought this might come in handy for those wanting to know what S-Calipers came on what cars. I probably should have picked a better font but I'll explain the details herein.

I finally had all of the S-Calipers in the shop at one time so I decided to take this picture:



1969 - 1970
These are "basically" the first S-Caliper for these cars. I say "basically" because I had noticed on some very early calipers there is a little notch for the head of the pad-pin "clip" to rest in notched out of the side of the caliper. When we restored the calipers off the first factory 914-6 off the assembly line (ex-Wigglesworth car) it had those calipers. The stats on these are:

* Clear Anodized finish.
* Casting wings in the nose of the caliper.
* No ID circles.

1971 - 1972.5
Same as above but with ID circles in the casting with an "X" in the circle. This denoted a new piston style however, I haven't seen the differences in these pistons and the standard SS pistons on the market today work just fine. So, changes are:

* ID circles
* Supposedly new piston top.

1972.5 - 1976 (and on... these have shown up on some SC's)
Here's a fairly large change. The casting changed so you will now see a more rounded nose. Most notably, the finish changed to a dichromate sealant giving them a greenish tint. Changes:

* Casting change giving the caliper nose a more rounded appearance.
* Finish changed to dichromate giving the caliper a greenish color.

Hope that's helpful.

E.

[robmog]

eric,
thanks for the great info.
i have a question about my rebuild.
how hard is it to push the pistons on the knock back pins?
its seems very hard to do, and i don't want to force it.
it makes reassembly quite hard (for me).
BTW, the compensating lines fit perfectly.
thanks again,
bob

[Flieger]

Are there any performance differences between the "bat wing" casting and the rounded one? Is the later style stiffer? Is there a weight difference?

Thanks, great info.

[Neunelfer]

how hard is it to push the pistons on the knock back pins? its seems very hard to do, and i don't want to force it. it makes reassembly quite hard (for me). BTW, the compensating lines fit perfectly.
thanks again,
bob

Hey Bob,

Glad the lines worked out well for you. You can see them on the caliper on the far left. Those went on my 911 today and the ones in the middle came off. The clear ones in the photo will be polished and re-anodized and one set will be... $old!

The pistons should almost slide in by hand. In fact, about 40% will do just that.

Did you have the calipers re-anodized? If so, you may want to take some steel wool to the pins. If they masked them they can sometimes get some surface build up on them. If not, I would just say to make sure the mechanisms are clean, the pins are clean and... most importantly; the pistons are going in straight. I put them in as far as possible by hand before I use the press. I also use a light amount of caliper grease on the entire cavity. Especially where the dust seals go in... it's almost the only way to get them to seat properly.

Max,

No performance differnce as the pads and pistons are the same sizes all around. Regarding the weight; beats me? Good questions but I really didn't have a scale around that would measure those differences. It would seemingly weigh less but we're talking under a 10th of a pound as my digital bathroom scale measured the same.

I'm not sure if they made the more robust snout because of rumours of flex etc...?

E.