Centric Seal Kit part number 14362008

CAUTION: It is very important that you take extreme care and thoroughly inspect and clean ALL of the internal parts when taking on this project. Pay special attention to the thrust washers for any cracking or debris and to the piston bore for any pitting or debris. Any damaged or defective parts should be replaced and should NOT be used.

I was recently attempting to rebuild the rear calipers for my '88 coupe and discovered that some fluid had leaked past the internal piston seal. I disassembled the pistons and found that both the internal piston and the inside bore of the outer piston were in good shape with no pitting, but the seal itself felt soft.



For many years this seal has been deemed unobtainable, and as such, the pistons have also been deemed as non-rebuildable. I spent some time browsing various sites hoping to find a kit that contained the seal, possibly from another GM car. I read about how the Pontiac 6000 shares some caliper parts with the ’88 Fiero so I focused my search there. I found this kit made by Centric on RockAuto listed for a Pontiac 6000 that showed the seal in multiple pictures. I searched Google for that part number and also found the kit available on Amazon, with a different picture that also showed that particular seal in the kit. Turns out the kit cross references to the pre-’88 Fiero as well as 1982-1988 F-bodies. I ordered 4 of them immediately. Note: only 2 kits are necessary (1 for each rear caliper).





A few days later the kits showed up and it was confirmed, not only was the seal included in the kit, but it was also the correct seal for use on the ’88 Fiero. It was noticeably firmer than the old seal that had softened over time, and fit beautifully around the internal piston and sealed very nicely inside the outer piston. I reassembled both pistons and calipers using the new internal seal from the Centric kit, and used the rest of the seals from a 1988 specific seal kit. As it turns out, the internal piston parts are the same between all Fieros, but the O.D. of the main piston is slightly larger on the ’88.



I’ve reinstalled everything back into the car and plan to bleed the brakes tonight and verify that nothing leaks, but based on how well it appeared to seal when I had the caliper on the bench, I’m pretty confident that my leak will be solved.

[This message has been edited by Silicoan86 (edited 04-17-2016).]

Some step by step pictures of the piston rebuild process:

New seal installed on the internal piston



Piston in a piston





Spring Installed



First washer



Bearing washer



Last washer



Retainer/Cover



Be sure that the washers are all aligned before pressing the retainer/cover into place or you will increase your risk of damaging them



Press slowly and carefully, stopping every once in a while to verify that everything is still properly aligned



I left one piston fully assembled for reference while I rebuilt the other one. I was unable to find a dimension as to how far I should press the retainer/cover back on, so I pressed it back on enough to match the one that I hadn’t taken apart yet. This was that dimension.







Back on the car

Just ordered the kits from Rockauto today to rebuild all 4 calipers on the wife's car. How did you take the pistons apart to begin with? Any pics of the disassembly process?

quote Originally posted by seajai: Just ordered the kits from Rockauto today to rebuild all 4 calipers on the wife's car. How did you take the pistons apart to begin with? Any pics of the disassembly process?

I used the flat end of a 3/16" drill bit inserted through the hole in the face of the piston and pressed everything out on a bench vise with the help of a large socket on the other side. Be VERY careful while pressing this out as I've heard of others cracking the washers inside during this process. The risk will be magnified if everything does not remain properly aligned during the entire pressing process.

[This message has been edited by Silicoan86 (edited 04-15-2016).]

Cool. Glad that did work out like we were discussing in that other thread.

So those things you're calling flat washers are hardened steel thrust washers for the bearing and they are the ones that I've seen crack upon disassembly. Hopefully doesn't happen often, but remember to inspect very carefully.

Here's the thread that started this. There's some other detail in there that might be helpful:
https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum1/HTML/096596.html

on edit - fixed link

[This message has been edited by FTF Engineering (edited 04-16-2016).]

quote Originally posted by FTF Engineering: Cool. Glad that did work out like we were discussing in that other thread. So those things you're calling flat washers are hardened steel thrust washers for the bearing and they are the ones that I've seen crack upon disassembly. Hopefully doesn't happen often, but remember to inspect very carefully. Here's the thread that started this. There's some other detail in there that might be helpful: https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum1/HTML/096596.html

Nice article but many will see this as safe easy and quick...

Read that thread because covers some issues/problems. (Edit link... suppose to be 096596.html )
May look easy to do but can bite hard down the road. If or When you have problems, you could be in big trouble.
Same problems w/ many rebuilt calipers at stores and online than have rebuilt pistons. Many pistons have been rebuilt before that could weaken the back cover.

Note that Three 84-87 pistons:
Older w/o 4 notches to accept stamped pad clip
Newer w/ above.
Recall pistons

Older Seem to have same thrust bearing shown. (I'm not tearing one apart.)
Newer have same bearing shown.
Recall piston have no hole in the front of outer piston, black oxide finish and better thrust bearing. (Weak bearings is part of recall problem.)

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Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.
(Jurassic Park)

The Ogre's Fiero Cave

[This message has been edited by theogre (edited 04-16-2016).]

silicoan, Great pics and article. Thanks for the effort!!!

Great points brought up by the ogre and FTF. Although the process isn't much more difficult than rebuilding the calipers, it is critical that extra care is taken to fully inspect and clean all of the parts. I added a note about that to the original post.

I got the car back together tonight and back on the road. I also rebuilt the front calipers, replaced the rotors, pads, and hoses all around, and installed new parking brake cables. The brakes feel fantastic now and it's nice to finally have a functional parking brake!

Almost two weeks later... the calipers are leak free and the brakes feel awesome.

Just did mine. Glad I did, the inner pistons were all full of rusty sludge.

My trip odometer recently rolled over a thousand miles on both my engine swap as well as the rebuilt brakes.

Still no leaks from the rear calipers, brake pedal feels great, and my e-brake works very well.

Just wanted to give an update on this thread. It's been around 5000 miles since the rear caliper rebuild on my wife's 88 and the brakes are still working great with no signs of any leakage from the pistons.

Same here! I'm pushing 3500 miles on my car this year with the rebuilt calipers. Everything still functions as new with no signs of trouble. It was well worth the effort.

My 1988 right rear caliper is seeping fluid.

I just took a spare right rear caliper apart that was seeping fluid also. It looks like it was recently rebuilt, The outer piston has 2 scratches
that run through the seal area and the bearing washer was bent. Probably damaged when it was rebuilt. All the other parts are clean, no corrosion or rust.

I have a spare left side that is good, I am going try to use the outer piston from the left side to make a good right side.
The outer pistons appear to be the same for both sides.

quote Originally posted by Larryinkc: My 1988 right rear caliper is seeping fluid. I just took a spare right rear caliper apart that was seeping fluid also. It looks like it was recently rebuilt, The outer piston has 2 scratches that run through the seal area and the bearing washer was bent. Probably damaged when it was rebuilt. All the other parts are clean, no corrosion or rust. I have a spare left side that is good, I am going try to use the outer piston from the left side to make a good right side. The outer pistons appear to be the same for both sides.

Yeah I believe you should be fine doing that. IIRC, the only part inside the piston that is left or right specific is the threaded piece in the center of this picture. I don't remember what the manual calls it, "piston actuator" maybe?

[This message has been edited by Silicoan86 (edited 12-13-2016).]

Awesome thread! I'm about to do this.

Can someone confirm I'm understanding correctly that the entire 14362008 kit will work on the 88 rear caliper EXCEPT the large external accordion dust seal that covers the outside of the piston immediately adjacent to the brake pads?

In other words, if the huge outside seal that moves and stretches in and out with the piston movement, is in good shape, can I buy just the 14362008 kit and use all of the included seals except that one biggest one? And I would only need the 88 specific kit (14362031) if that external piston accordion seal is torn?

I would get the 88 kits also and change the outer accordion seals while you have them apart. They keep moisture out of your calipers and also should come with new plastic plugs for the piston vent holes.

Rock auto has them for $3.42, Centric part # 14362031.

Another useful guide with pics that are 404d... Any chance of re uploading them?

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"Discord"
Red 1988 GT under restoration!

Let's Go Mets!

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

quote Originally posted by Shho13: Another useful guide with pics that are 404d... Any chance of re uploading them?

I think (hope) we are suffering from a temporary server loss. I can't post images right now.

PIP server is down right now. It should be back but when depends exact problem.
All sites get DDOS etc attacks or have DNS and other network problems that could take while to stop or solve.

quote Originally posted by reinhart: Awesome thread! I'm about to do this. Can someone confirm I'm understanding correctly that the entire 14362008 kit will work on the 88 rear caliper EXCEPT the large external accordion dust seal that covers the outside of the piston immediately adjacent to the brake pads? In other words, if the huge outside seal that moves and stretches in and out with the piston movement, is in good shape, can I buy just the 14362008 kit and use all of the included seals except that one biggest one? And I would only need the 88 specific kit (14362031) if that external piston accordion seal is torn?

You should definitely get both kits and replace everything while you're in there, after all, the kits are cheap! You definitely don't want to have to do this twice. The first time I inspected those accordion dust seals I thought they looked good, but by the second caliper I realized they were actually cracked so I had to replace both. It can be very difficult to tell if they're bad or not so I'd highly recommend replacing them. IIRC, the main seal between the OD of the piston and the ID of the caliper housing is different as well.

[This message has been edited by Silicoan86 (edited 02-26-2017).]

quote Originally posted by Shho13: Another useful guide with pics that are 404d... Any chance of re uploading them?

Any recommendations for a reliable image hosting site that I can upload them to as an alternative? I can leave the PIP ones in place too, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to have an alternative link for each one for instances like this.

quote Originally posted by Silicoan86: Any recommendations for a reliable image hosting site that I can upload them to as an alternative? I can leave the PIP ones in place too, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to have an alternative link for each one for instances like this.

Most other sites have worse problems.
1 is many Links to them expires after a few week to months.
Others are sold/bankrupt or X co thinks cost to much money and servers go down permanently and with little warning.
these are why many archive treads had dead img tags and Cliff make PIP

[This message has been edited by theogre (edited 02-26-2017).]

Posting for a bump and a reminder to order seal kit this weekend.

Bumping this one back up again since I had some people recently asking for the link.

Hey...I am doing one of these right now....But the problem is, the thrust-washer that goes on the inside of the caliper on the parking brake shaft is worn pretty badly....Would there be a possible replacement source...?

Any info would be appreciated!

Had someone else recently asking for the link to this thread so I figured I'd bump it back to the top.

After 4 car seasons and about 10k miles, my calipers are still fully functional and leak free.

Done this repair a few times on the original '87 calipers and had to do it with a remanufactured (ie "new") Seville caliper.
As Ogre point out, this is delicate work that doesn't always pay…
Got to be ultra clean and I would suggest to use silicon rubber grease for the reassembly - it helps with the self adjusting system allowing the inner piston to turn more easilly on the backstroke, thus taking up the play. Otherwise you end up with a resealed caliper thats works more or less fine under hydraulic pressure, but doesn't do handbrake adjustment anymore. Terribly frustrating!!

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'87 Fiero GT. 3800 turbo. Sticky tyres. Driven hard!

[This message has been edited by Frenchrafe (edited 12-19-2019).]

I could not find any up to date info on the inner piston umbrella seal. Does anyone know about this potential Pontiac 6000 o ring seal that works for the inner piston seal on an 88 Fiero?

quote Originally posted by Lurate: I could not find any up to date info on the inner piston umbrella seal. Does anyone know about this potential Pontiac 6000 o ring seal that works for the inner piston seal on an 88 Fiero?

If a Google search is any guide, this appears to be a solution that went out of stock long ago ...