Hi, I recently bought an 85 e-150 conversion van. I am rebuilding the brake system and don't know which calipers to buy.
There are two different ones listed, phenolic, and steel pistons. It is to cold to work on the van this week but was hoping to find out which ones are best and if either would work. In research i have done, some say that there is a difference in the pads according to which caliper you use.
thanks for the help
Anna

 

Hi Anna,
I have an '88 ClubWagon and dropped the phenolic one while rebuilding the caliper, cracking it. I bought a new pistion, also phenolic and new pads and all is working fine. The parts guy didn't know anything about steel or phenolic specific pads so I can't help with that. Sorry.
jim

 

Looking at Rock Auto, calipers seem to be dirt cheap in either the metal or phenolic types. Looking at their pad listings, there seems to be no differentiation for piston material.

Part of me says that metal pistons would be stronger but also more prone to corrosion. I am guessing you could replace with either type but am not certain about that. If you have a local auto parts store with both types of calipers, maybe take a look at them to confirm that they mount the same and that the hose comes into the same spot.

Good luck,
George

 

I prefer metal pistons. Either will work as long as the piston diameter is the same.I doubt they made 2 different caliper castings.

 

hi All
Thanks for the advice.I took the old ones off and they were steel,so that is what I bought. i think the difference in pads are if they have a spring clip on the pad that clips into the caliper. There is a difference in the ID of the pistons. This 85 van doesn't have the spring clips on the pads, so i guess it doesn't matter.
I ordered the Master cylinder from Rock Auto along with parking brake cables and new lines for the calipers. Got the brakes finished except for the master cylinder which will not be here till Monday. I cleaned the old one out (lots of gunk inside it), and flushed the lines. Hopefully that will be ok as I will flush the system one more time when I put the new master cylinder on

I wish the local parts stores would hire folks with mechanical experience. I bought the calipers local and they came with a hardware kit but the anti rattle clips were very cheep and would not work. Who ever replaced the brakes before me, did not install them. I took the parts back to the store to see if they had a set with better anti rattle clips and the guy behind the counter had no idea what they were. I had to go to a different store to buy better ones. I had to buy new brake drums because the guy at the local store that turns them, didn't know what he was doing and cut a deep groove in the back of one.

Has anyone ever changed an oil pan gasket on one of these vans? I read on most f-150's that you can jack the motor up to get the pan off, I don't know about this van. I am going to look closer today and see if maybe it could be the valve cover gaskets and the oil running down the side of the engine. If its the pan, maybe the bolts can be tightened up just a bit?.

 

Best bet on an oil leak is thoroughly cleaning the engine of existing oil spillage and drive a few hundred miles. After that the oil leak should be fairly easy to see.

As far as hiring competent help---sadly today that's as rare as Unicorn sightings. Warm bodies that show up mostly as scheduled are necessary to staff most any retail outlet, auto parts stores are just one of the businesses competing for workers. Because of that companies believe a computer screen pretty much doubles as knowledge so typing skills become more important than product or industry experience.

Put yourself in my position as a 63 year old man. 'Twas a time people were exceptionally knowledgeable about their trades, many who worked a counter were once upon time actually working in the field. Dilution of the labor pool brings us to today where said "warm body" is the biggest employment factor.

 

Got any idea what the best way is to clean an engine in a van? When I started this project, it was just the transmission I was going to work on. I removed the dog house and put a sheet around the carpet area and carefully pressure washed the trans and what could saftely be sprayed from on top. Then put the sheet over the engine with the edges around the carpet and sprayed from underneath.
Perhaps a degreaser (I've never found one that works really good), brushes, and a water hose at home? I don't want to pressure wash the engine as it will spray all over the inside of the van.
I was able to turn all the pan bolts about a 1/8 turn, one handed, with a 1/4 ratchet. So they weren't loose, but weren't tight either. It is a cork gasket.

I remember life before WalMart when there were many discount stores in competition with each other. Many different mom and pop stores and getting a little football helmet to stick on the car antenna when my did filled up at the American station for 19c per gallon! Oh, and all those little gadgets you buy with the store name on them, they gave them to you free when I was young.
I'm not too far behind you JWA.

It may sound silly, but part of the reason I bought the old van is to fix it up and make it my primary vehicle as I get older. I have back problems and it's much easier to step up then down into a car. You can haul a lot in it if need be, or go to the mountains and camp out if you like...

 

You already have much of the necessary process for cleaning the engine figured out. I'd look anywhere BUT "walmart" for a general purpose automotive-type degreaser, one that is applied to a cold engine and intended to work slowly. Something like Simple Green but Gunk brand has a few products too.

The only "problem" with the Gunk brand is they caution you to fully protect all electrical wiring including spark plug leads so not sure how easy that would be to use for your application. If this oil leak is massive and has the entire engine covered to fully clean it might take more than one pass.

Power washing an engine has too many downsides so that's just never a good idea. It can and does force water into areas where it causes electrical shorts or other performance issues. Sure its fast and easy but just not worth all the problems it creates. Some will claim it doesn't cause problems but my guess is if that's so its more a matter of luck than anything else. Just my humble opinion you understand.

Also some oil leaks are so minor they're usually not worth the effort, time and expense it takes to correct them. I have a small oil leak on my '03 5.4, know exactly where it is but fixing it requires removing the heads. Because this leak doesn't leave driveway spots and I check oil level frequently between 3-4K oil changes spending $2K to fix this is kinda crazy, again IMHO.

"walmart"----sorry if this offends but its a store staffed by morons, its customer base largely morons who flock there with blank looks like Zombies out for feeding, muttering to themselves "but its cheap here....." Obviously I don't shop there but I'll bet my cost-per-item is lower overall even so. My purchases are all top quality brand-name items so there is no compromises made by avoiding "walmart".

Before the faithful lament "walmart" helps less-than-affluent people live better lives----there's very, very, very little available there that isn't found elsewhere for similar savings. "walmart's" biggest success is fooling people into believing they're doing the lord's work by shopping there. Oh, BTW that too is IMHO.

 

Pressuring washing an engine is Not a good idea, as JWA stated, it can cause many problems with electrical sensors and connectors.

If the engine is prep'ed and ready for it, fine, but as it sits in the vehicle, not good. Years ago, guys would "steam clean" an engine, and the results were not good if the engine was not prep'ed, like all electrical wiring removed, intakes sealed up, so on....

I've cleaned up some engines with scrapping off the heavy oil/grease build-up, and I've had very good results with Simply-green, mixed strong, sprayed on, let sit, and rinsed off with a garden hose, but ONLY on the lower half of an engine, where the build-up accrues.

(I've cleaned seats/interior trim with Simply green with better results than all the "upholstery" cleaners, and a lot cheaper too)

A gallon of Simply Green, about $9 at Sam's club (Wally marts daughter's store) and it makes 4-5 gallons of cleaner, mixed strong.

Also.........if an oil pan gasket is leaking, it's leaking, tightening up the bolts "might" make the fix, if the gasket is a Fel-pro permanent one-piece gasket.
Otherwise, it's pull the pan, and clean the surfaces with acetone, and install a new gasket, sealing the problem corners.