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Brake Booster Rebuild

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S

Scot

Jedi Hopeful
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Anyone ever rebuilt the vacuum brake booster on a BJ8. I am about to do so as I found brake fluid inside mine.
Was wondering how difficult the task is and if there are any tips or lessons learned.
A new replacement booster is about six or seven times the cost of a rebuild kit. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hammer.gif
 
Scot,
Lots of people have installed rebuild kits. The results are variable. Some try it several times & then buy a new booster. Even "rebuild shops" have trouble. Others have had everything go right the first time. The most typical problem is that the booster locks "on" after a few stops. One of the "proposed cures" is to use a dry film lube on the large piston & it's bore. In case it locks up, carry a wrench to loosen one of the fittings to release the pressure & then drive home without the brakes.

In the end it might be better to pay the seven times more.
D
 
I actually wrote an article on the subject of rebuilding the brake booster -- one of my rare forays into the technical realm -- after mine locked up. Actually I got to do it twice: once without lube /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/nonono.gif and once with /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/yesnod.gif.

You can get photocopies of articles from back issues of the club magazine from Historian Scott Helms scotth@healey.org. Might be a good idea. Scott can also arrange to send you a Tech Articles Index -- handy to have around. A whole heckuvalot of tech material has appeared in Healey Highlights/Austin-Healey Magazine these past 34 years.
 
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