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Girling Brake Question - UPDATE 2/12

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Re: Girling Brake Question

Oh, and I'll have to get the car in the garage early on Sat. as I've also got to install the emergency brake cable and handle. Joy of joys, let's hope the shop manual works for this!
 
Re: Girling Brake Question

[ QUOTE ]
I'll have to check on the shop's restoration work re: the flares, they are actually a Porsche restoration shop and otherwise the work is quite good.

[/ QUOTE ]

I sold from a Porsche shop "back-when". Found my +2 Elan, it needed refinishing, so took it to the shop which did all our Porsche work (fair prices, good work), paid ahead (dumb, I know!) and went on vacation... Stipulated it was to be disassembled, not masked, no bondo in a 'glass car, two weeks to do it. Came home to a VERY sub-standard job. That shop didn't get any more Porsche work from us, but I still had to put up with pigtailed wiring, bondo bubbles, etc. I think it was "This ain't no Porch-ee, 'huck 'im." GRRR. Lesson (RE)learned.


RE: rear wheel cylinders.

I can't imagine the cylinders are all that expensive, and if you open it up with only kits in hand (especially if the cylinders have been on the car a while) you may find the kits will not solve the problem. i.e.: honed one too many times, pits ignored onna last go-round, pistons worn to ovality, etc. Better to do this ONCE right, IYSWIM.

Just random thoughts from an old shoe /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Re: Girling Brake Question

Any progress?
 
Re: Girling Brake Question

Some, although the jury's still out. I replaced the seals in the front brake that was leaking today. Both had a big chunk out of them causing the fluid to leak out. It was an experience, I had a piece of cardboard between the pistons to keep them from smashing into one another, and to get the second one out I clamped the one in place that was moving more freely.

We'll see how the repair goes. Two things that I'm going to check - the stainless bleeder screws that VB sent are longer than the stock, and of course I'll have to check the caliper to make sure there's no leakage.

Now, on to my next brake problem - the rears. Both drums have leakage, and it's coming from the piston on the bottom of the assembly. I'll have to look at the shop manual tomorrow, I'm not a brake guy by any stretch and I've never worked on drums before. So, my guess is rear rebuild kit and on from there.

Any bleeding techniques that anyone would recommend? I don't have a vacuum bleeder, although I'm thinking I'm going to invest in one if it means I can finish this project.
 
Re: Girling Brake Question

Sounds like you've made good progress. Eye the threads on the replacement bleeders, match them up with the originals to insure they're the correct thread. Some "funny" stuff happens with regard to quality of some "little" things from offshore mfg. *NO* Q.C. being one. T'ain't right, but t'is so.

The rear cylinders can be purchased from NAPA or other parts house. To minimize the "agro factor" I'd suggest getting a set of new ones. Not a lot of money, and no worries over whether or not they've been boogered up by previous "nobbling".

About the best tool I've found (for English cars, at least) as a brake bleeding aid is the EeZ-Bleed kit sold thru VB or Moss. Makes purging hydraulics a one man job and simple. I Highly recommend it. Brake fluid on shoe/pad material can be a consideration, an aerosol can or two of some "brake cleaner" can be good to have handy as you go thru the drill. You want NO contaminants on pad/shoe material.

Keep us "up" on how this goes and since this is a first foray into the braking system for you, feel free to jump on here and discuss it... even step-by-step if you find yourself in quandry. There's more talent and experience on this forum than anyplace short of Abingdon-on-Thames, circa 1967.
 
Re: Girling Brake Question

Hmmm, every time I think I know something, I learn something.
 
Re: Girling Brake Question

Wazzat, Jack? You didn't know about th' landing gear?

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devilgrin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jester.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devilgrin.gif
 
Re: Girling Brake Question

Thanks again for the good info, it's encouraging that working on the brakes on this car isn't rocket science, and like I wrote previously it's really a confidence builder.

Looking through the manual I believe I'm in need of a wheel cylinder replacement on each side, based upon the fact that the fluid was leaking from the area around the piston. I'm about to the point where I'm going to order both a rebuild kit and two new wheel cylinders to ensure I have the parts to get this done right. Seeing the brake fluid over the inside of the brake drum really served to **** me off, but hey at least I'll know how they work in the future. I'm hoping that a good douse of brake cleaner will clean off the shoes enough to use them as they're new but we'll see.

The garage where I'm working on the car is the auto hobby shop on base so if it gets stuck there, no ride home. That would be bad, to say the least, not to mention I wouldn't want to leave it outside topless. That's in part why I chose to use air to get the pistons out as it's a quicker option, but it really makes it a bit of a pain as you have to drive the car 15 miles each way to work on it. At least I can get the bugs out on the drive to/from, plus they have enough tools there to work through most of what I could get myself into.
 
Re: Girling Brake Question

I got a chance to look at the car today for the first time since I'd driven it to the shop to fix the brake on Saturday. So far, success on the front brake! No leakage, it looks fine, and there's fluid in the master cylinder! I hope that the rebuild kit for the drums shows up this Friday, otherwise I won't be able to finish the brake work this weekend for the CAT club meeting! I'm also going to pick up a vacuum brake bleeder at Pep Boys so I can do the job properly. I almost went ahead and ordered all new wheel cylinders but I decided that a rebuild kit should be tried first.

Thanks again for the words, look for an update Sat. night.
 
Re: Girling Brake Question

OK, so I think I'm almost done with the brakes!

I removed the rear wheels and drums today and I cleaned them out, and sure enough the rear wheel cylinders weren't rebuilt. In fact, the dust covers were rotten out as well, which I knew, but fortunately I picked up a few w/the wheel cylinder kit from Sunbeam Specialties.

Let me just say that replacing the retaining plate on the back of the wheel cylinders seems to me to be a real bear, and not really all that secure. I wonder if they were they installed properly on my car when they put it back together.

So, removing the wheel cylinders and disassembling them showed a lot of gunk on the inside of the cylinder. Rather than hone them out and make them too big, I decided to hit them first with some brake cleaner and a wire brush, to clean out the deposits on the inside of the cylinder. Believe it or not, that did the trick, nice and clean and smooth, and I replaced the seal on the piston. Clearly the new seal fit better, I felt like I had the same kind of seal that I had when I put the new seals into the calipers last week.

It took a LONG time to wrestle with the back plate, but I managed to get them installed fairly securely, I hope. It's hard to describe how I have them installed, but I have the two tabs that slide into the grooves on the WC in place, with the retaining ring around them. They slid into place by putting the ring around the tabs, with the smaller tab up and the two prongs down, then sliding the prongs into the WC groove brings them both down retained (somewhat) by the ring. Make sense? Not so much when I read that back... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif There's got to be a better way, and of course the manual was pretty useless. I bled the brakes once until only fluid came out, then I flushed it out some more to ensure that I only had the Valvoline synthetic stuff in the pipes as best as I could.

The big test - driving home. Well, let me just say that the Tiger now has a LOT of braking power available to it. I think that, time permitting, I'm going to remove the right wheel and clean it up and inspect, but being able to push down on the pedal once and stop is NICE!!!!!!!

To those who might ever undertake this project, DO IT! It's definitely a confidence builder, it's fairly easy, and it gives you a chance to inspect, clean and adjust your brake system.
 
Re: Girling Brake Question

Incidentally, what I meant by "almost done" is now I have to install the emergency brake handle, cable and connector. I think I've cracked the code from the shop manual. Here's how I think it works:

The handbrake rod attaches w/the clip to the driver's side handbrake lever on the wheel cylinder. The other end is slid into the housing on the differential, or thereabouts. The handbrake cable is pinched at the "welded clip" and the cable continues out to the passenger side wheel cylinder lever. That way, when the handbrake cable is pulled, it would seem to me that the effect would be to pull each wheel cylinder lever equally.

Is this right?
 
Re: Girling Brake Question

Good news indeed! Drum brakes are usually a beast, so consider yourself initiated. The handbrake/cable should be simple by comparison. You have it right as to operation: kind of a "push-me-pull-you". the cable end attached to one side, rod to the other, any tension from the handle translates to equalised tension to both wheel levers. Simple but effective.

Congrats! Now you're on your way to being a self-sufficient LBC owner. Few "shops" will treat your car with the respect it deserves. That local CAT club should be a wealth of good info, too.
 
Re: Girling Brake Question

Thanks again.

Today I was going to the CAT meeting but unfortunately since I didn't get to install the fan yesterday I was leery of driving the car anywhere there might be traffic. So, LA is out of the question until the fan's in.
 
Re: Girling Brake Question

Word in yer ear: wire that puppy up with a relay inna circuit. Takes a LOT of stress off'n the rest of the loom.

This is your only transport? The CAT fellas can give you face to face help!
 
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