A caution for those planning to overhaul the front brake calipers. I installed new seals to the front calipers, and was disappointed to find that the genuine Nissan seal kit does NOT include the the two small seals for the fluid transfer ports between the two caliper halves. Had a look on the fiche and they don't even show the seals in the exploded parts view. Same deal for the rear calipers using an aftermarket kit. No transfer port seals in the kit. A job definitely worth doing. Even though I have replaced and flushed the brake fluid a number of times over the past five years, I was surprised at the amount of crap sitting under the pistons in the caliper housing.
You are NOT supposed to split the calipers dean. I am pretty sure that a generic seal would be available from the local brake place. Admire your determination getting the halves apart. I tried and gave up.
All four bolts let go quite easy, so was no problem with dis-assembly. Can't see why the workshop manual says not to. Their recommendation to replace the caliper, if the transfer port seal lets go is, (I suspect), more to do with making money than anything else, because there is nothing sinister about reassembling a caliper.
i'm almost 100% certain that I got those little seals on the inside of the calipers when I rebuilt a set of TT brakes at the start of last year?? I remember taking the calipers apart as you did (very easy to do) and i'm sure I replaced them. Either way, they made a plenty tight seal as I did the rest of the caliper rebuild after putting them back together and they held a helluva lot of air pressure getting the pistons out. edit: Just remembered that I bought this rebuild kit off ebay (genuine nissan) second hand, unused by someone who couldn't be arsed doing the caliper rebuild. They may have sourced a replacement inner seal
