Anyone ever make brake pistons? machinists?

With the price of what the replacement pistons are and the simple geometry of the pistons themselves I think
I'll pull some suitable SS drops and fab some up for my project.

At least that's the plan...

Any other machinists here?? chime in if you have any opinions on this or suggestions.

I had some made up for my Honda CB550 years ago. I was given a chunk of stainless from a friend and I passed it onto a local latheman along with the original ( very pitted) piston. A couple of days later and I had a new stainless steel piston (plus a spare). I cant speak for any performance difference as the CB brakes were always crap but 15 + - years on and ive still got it. No more pitted brake pistons and ripped seals.
For my current project (see link below) I had to restore a set of 4 pot ZXR calipers and I found a set of SS pistons on ebay. Id never go back to chrome if I can avoid it.

Alot of aftermarket pistons are SS anyway. Just make sure you polish the side pretty good and you'll be fine.

Roger that.

It will look like chrome when I'm done.

Thanks fellas

i haven't done it ,yet.
but as soon as i need one i won't hesitate to spin some out.

leon

Depends on the model and type pads you run. When Kawasaki changed from organic to metallic pads, they also added heat insulating material in the hollow of brake pistons. This was to prevent boiling the brake fluid with the higher heat. The 78 and 80 Z1R's have the same basic front caliper body, but the later came with metallic pads and insulated pistons. Going to a more aggressive metallic pad is a common upgrade for anyone looking for better brakes. They probably should consider using the insulated pistons as well. Turning a basic brake piston should straight forward. I haven't done it personally, but know guys who have. I have no idea what you would use for the heat isolation compound. It is probably Asbestos and one more thing that's going to kill me.

are you referring to this? I was wondering why the front pistons had this and the rear pistons did not.

I may cut into the worse of the two pistons and see how this piece is held, it may be press fit in. If so, I'll free it up and reuse for the new pistons I'll machine.

Also, most of the info I've seen describes this as a 42mm piston, both mine measure 43mm exact with little to no taper......interesting.

That's it. The pistons used on the earlier calipers are hollow. It's some sort of heat insulating compound, but I have no idea what it is.

I have the rear caliper pistons finished, 303SS.

nice work! did you get the heat insulation out of the old pistons? also it occurred to me just now that stainless transfers heat much slower than mild steel, so maybe it would not be necessary to have the insulation piece. better safe than sorry i guess.

Really nice work!

Thanks fellas,

I was able to remove the insulator puck from the fronts easily my turning down the OD enough on the crimp area to release it.

It's basically a little brake pad in itself with a metal backing plate that sits in a counterbore and then crimped into place to capture it.

I'll be updating this with more pics of that and the front pistons when I get them completed.