BT7 Right Front Brake Drag

[spartan0199]

Well I changed the rear brake line as suggested, good idea they were all very old and in poor shape. I started the bleeding process at the rear was going ok, couldn't quite get all the little bubbles out so decided to go around the car once and come back around a second time. When I got back to the right rear I noticed a drip coming out of the bottom of the drum. Looks like I know need a repair kid for thy cylinder...is this common? Any other suggestions while I investigate parts. I don't have much experience with drum brakes, all my cars except for my first one in high/school college have had disk brakes all around.

 

[Bob_Spidell]

... Looks like I know need a repair kid for thy cylinder...is this common? Any other suggestions while I investigate parts. I don't have much experience with drum brakes, all my cars except for my first one in high/school college have had disk brakes all around.

Yep, common (but probably not any more so than any other drum-braked car). The difference between some other makes is the cylinders are aluminum; whether or not they can be honed if pitted or scored is debatable, but new ones aren't that expensive last I checked. Compared to disk brakes, drum brakes are more complicated; there are heavy springs that have to be stretched, and more parts overall to deal with (at least Healey drums aren't self-adjusting, which adds even more bits to fiddle with). The Healey drums are what's called 'self-energizing' in that the first shoe to engage also engages the other (Wikipedia has a good explanation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drum_brake). For this to work, the cylinders have to be able to slide, and they're held in place by a couple of complementary clips that can be a PITA to assemble (there was a recent discussion on this forum).

Be prepared for the fact that if your cylinder was leaking--hard to tell on your photo if that's the case--the brake shoes will likely need replacing; if any fluid at all got on the shoes re-line or replace, there is no way to get all the fluid off the shoe material no matter how much you spray, soak or swear. Also, the shoes have to be adjusted so that the linings are orthogonal/perpendicular the backing plate (parallel to the axle). This is accomplished with stand-off pedestals--you'll see them when you get the shoes off--that can be screwed in or out. I know of no way besides eyeballing to make sure they are adjusted, though I've considered springing for something like this: https://www.harborfreight.com/12-inch-digital-caliper-47261.html , in the belief that, if the linings are exactly parallel to each other they HAVE to be orthogonal to the backing. The stand-offs should have small felts on them, on which you put a drop or two of oil to aid in the shoes sliding on them.

And, and always, if one side has problems you should probably service both.

 

[spartan0199]

Thank you for the advice, and yes it leaked over the shoes. Pictures are after I wiped things down some, it was dripping quite regularly out of the drum.

 

[British_Recovery]

Part of your problem might be that one shoe is on wrong. They should be hole to solid, not hole to hole and solid to solid. The one shoe can only go on one way because of the adjuster. The other one must be opposite - head to toe arrangement.
That equalizes the contact surface around the drum.
Good luck, and check the other side.
Bob

 

[spartan0199]

Are you referring to areas circled in red when you say solid and hole? These brakes haven't been touched in a long time, 20 years minimum.

 

[British_Recovery]

Yes. Reposition the shoe on the right side of your photo and it will be correct.

 

[British_Recovery]

 

[spartan0199]

Well good news first. Brakes are back together and the fluid is as clean as can be.

That's because I can't seem to get the air out of the system. We flushed for quite some time this morning but couldn't get the air all out. Any tips or trick would be appreciated.

We did the bleed with 2 people I was opening and closing the valves, my sister working the pedal, even added my nephew towards the end to make the sure the level was always full.

Just couldn't get the bubbles out, it would look better and get worse...over and over. Ran about 3 32 oz bottles of fluid through the car. We gave up for today.

 

[Bob_Spidell]

Sounds to me like you have a leak somewhere; maybe not enough to spill fluid but enough to draw air in when the pedal is released (don't know offhand if BT7s have a servo, but if so it could draw air in while dumping fluid into the vacuum piston). Inspect all your lines and joints; you might not notice a leak since you're pumping fluid through the system anyway. We had trouble bleeding the brakes on my dad's '46 Chevy 2-ton; eventually found that the seat on one of the bleeders had cracked due to overtightening by a ham-fisted mechanic (COULDN'T have been US .

I usually pressure bleed my Healeys using an old reservoir cap with a Shrader valve installed and one of the tire chucks with a retaining clip on it; 10psi give-or-take is enough to push out air without aerating the fluid.

 

[spartan0199]

Hello All,

Well here I am nearly two years later STILL trying to get my brakes in order. I don't know if it is more embarrassing or frustrating as this point. Long story short I've changed just about everything out, no leaks, everything looked good. Still couldn't get the brake pedal back or thy system bled. I feel like the master cylinder is shot after bleeding the system, finding an issue, bleeding again, over and over. So I got a new master cylinder and I tried to install in today. Disassembly went fine, putting it all back with the new one was okish until I tried to get the brake lines back on to it.

Literally impossible to get them threaded!!! It just refused to happen and I tried and tried an tried. So I basically took it all apart, master cylinder off the fire wall and will try again tomorrow.
Looking for suggestions on the best way to do this, it shouldn't be this hard. Should I get the brake lines started as step one before fastening it onto the firewall? I never want to work with hydraulics again.

Changing the clutch was easier....

Thanks

 

[steveg]

Sounds like getting the tube nuts started with the MC loose, then installing the bolts is the way to go. Be careful not to cross thread them.