Looking at an old race car, it has Air Heart calipers on the front (single piston) are parts to rebuild them still avalible ?? It's an old gasser and I want to keep it in the original style. Thanks, Scott
How is HURST connected to this?????? Airheart was not connected with Hurst...You might try Speedway for parts now..
H/A brakes were standard equipt. on the late 70's thru mid 80's Nascar stuff. They are great brakes, but have issues with long term use. The pistons in the calipers need PB Blaster to make them last. WD40 won't work. Kevin Ooltewah Speed Shop
Try this company, I have used them in the past for parts to restore Hurst/Airheart calipers. http://www.airheart-brakes.com/
I got a set on a T-bucket, Speedway has the "pucks" but they are not an alliance vender so I try to avoid ole"Speedy Bill".Which reminds me, I have got to send Ryan some dough.
Check out "oldspeedtees" on Ebay (he's also on the H.A.M.B., but I can't remember his handle). Sells old stock from the shelves of California Speed&Sport in New Brunswick, NJ.
Try the Brake Man in Camarillo, Ca. Warren Gilliland is the owner and worked for Bill Airheart even back as far as the Halibrand days. He knows his brakes and can rebuild the H/A calipers better than anybody else.
Hello. I have a pair of old AIRHEART Magnesium Calipers 1) Stamped "PAT N0 3113646" 2) Puck size = 1.75 3) Anyone ever seen and or used these before on a early FORD spindle? 4) Rebuild kits the same or different than the AIRHEART 175 series? The subject AIRHEART Magnesium are different and bigger that the AIRHEAT website's 175 series. Thank You.
HURST Air Heart use to makes brakes for airplanes they had a plant in Rockford Mn, don't know if they still do, one of my crew on the formula Ford worked there. jim h
They were right across town from me in Tempe about seven or eight years ago. I went down and picked up a mechanical caliper that I needed for a chopper project, nad got the grand tour. The catalog I have is from then and the phone numbers are 480-449-3660. Try and see if they're still there.
Got a few questions for you guys who know these brakes What are the issues with long term use? Could I run the single piston calipers on the front of a light weight vehicle and use a little more modern disc on the rear? Would the H/A hold up for street use with regular maintenance and what kind of maintenance would they require?
Centurion, I have calipers that look *almost* identical to what you have. I know that they date back to probably the early 70s; or possibly even as far back as 1967. Mine also seem to be magnesium; and the only difference I can see in external appearance is in the "bosses" around the inlet and bleeder ports. While your calipers appear to be flattened off around the ports; my calipers have the inlet port stepped into the caliper further than yours. I sent pics of my calipers to that Tolomatic that currently deals with the old H-A line and they identified mine as model-number 175x1-06. They they said that they had all of the parts to rebuild except the caliper body itself, so I bought it all. I haven't rebuilt mine yet; I sure hope that their ID was right and my parts work!
I've just purchased an old FED from the mid 60s an it has Hurst Airheart brakes on the back that need rebuild kits etc. what I have looked at so far , are crazy expensive !
most likely one of the first post I followed.....my 1963 Studebaker has the factory disk set up with a Dunlap style caliber which looks like some H/A I've seen.....after re-looking over the posts....post 10 - looks like the caliber I have on my 1972 Kaw H-1 500 triple...
If you have a K H 500 they are Kelsey Hayes not Airheart, they made similar calipers to the Airheart caliper
If the car you purchased has been updated to continue racing, do yourself a favor and buy a modern Wilwood disc brake kit, you will have to anyway sooner or later, why risk things with 50 yr old brakes, and selling them to a restorer knocks the price of the new ones down a bunch. If this is a restoration deal Airheart/Tolomatic kits are pricey for just O-rings and hardware but its one stop shopping. Concern on rebuilding is the amount of corrosion within the piston bore and whether it can be cleaned up. Some people go as far as to have SS sleeves installed. but that can cost over $75 a bore. Took me 6 used calipers to come up with enough parts to make 2 good ones and a full day of labor. To save money, there are other places to get the pucks that just need a little modyfacation to get them to work. Pucks from AH are way too expensive
Looking for a set of Hurst/Airheart calipers for a project of mine. Anyone know where I can find a pair? I believe they are the "138 x 2-02 Series Calipers"....