two easy questions

[Hawkscoach]

gentlemen, 59 BN4 front disc brakes, anyone have a pic of the brake line routing at the caliper to the frame? Not sure how the bends go and could not find a good picture showing it. It appears that the flex line comes from the frame to the bracket on the caliper, then a "hard line" comes from the flex line to the caliper (I have a new brake line set from Moss. My second question: my leaf springs look like they should be in a museum........it appears that a po may have added some "tin" between the springs maybe to take out "squeaks". Is it standard practice (or advisable) to re-arch the springs thus cleaning, etc. and making sure the ride height is correct, OR do you generally just replace them? Moss sells them at about 140+ each which will take it to over 300 with shipping. Not sure what it will cost to have them re-arc'd. I had one side of my 69 Camaro re-arc'd about a year ago to gain about a 1/2" and it was not a big deal (however, they were in great condition) Thanks in advance. Doug (really trying to use original parts and the cost just keeps going)

 

[TimK]

This is from my BN7, but should be the same as yours. It is all I have.

 

[Hawkscoach]

thanks Tim. Is there a hard line on the other side of the flex line that goes to the caliper?

 

[GregoryW]

gentlemen, 59 BN4 front disc brakes, anyone have a pic of the brake line routing at the caliper to the frame? Not sure how the bends go and could not find a good picture showing it. It appears that the flex line comes from the frame to the bracket on the caliper, then a "hard line" comes from the flex line to the caliper (I have a new brake line set from Moss. My second question: my leaf springs look like they should be in a museum........it appears that a po may have added some "tin" between the springs maybe to take out "squeaks". Is it standard practice (or advisable) to re-arch the springs thus cleaning, etc. and making sure the ride height is correct, OR do you generally just replace them? Moss sells them at about 140+ each which will take it to over 300 with shipping. Not sure what it will cost to have them re-arc'd. I had one side of my 69 Camaro re-arc'd about a year ago to gain about a 1/2" and it was not a big deal (however, they were in great condition) Thanks in advance. Doug (really trying to use original parts and the cost just keeps going)

I believe your springs are completely original, as my BN7 had the same strips between the leaves. A local restorer said that replacing the springs would ruin the ride, but I have to say I prefer the new springs. The car is a little high now, but it doesn't scrape on every little road imperfection.
Greg

 

[TimK]

thanks Tim. Is there a hard line on the other side of the flex line that goes to the caliper?

Yes, If you go to Moss Motors, and click on brake system, then hydraulics, you'll see it is a small curved pipe with a female coupling where the flex hose joins it. The hard line goes to the caliper.

 

[Hawkscoach]

Thanks Tim! I have two shorter lines that came with the Moss piping set. I assumed that these were the ones, however, they just seem way too long? or maybe these are not the correct ones and I need to order others from Moss?? Thanks Greg, I am tempted to just clean mine and put new bushing in, etc. and see how it goes. This is a total restoration (if you saw what I started with you would understand)...........like building a car almost from scratch. Thanks again. Doug

 

[British_Recovery]

Metal strips between the leaves of the spring are usually zinc and allow them to flex easier.
Bob

 

[BoyRacer]

Buy new springs. If you re-arch your old springs, they will still continue to fatigue and sag, and eventually break. Yes, new springs will change "the ride". It will ride like a new Healey, instead of an old worn out Healey.

 

[steveg]

Rich Berman has a picture of the caliper end:
https://tinyurl.com/lgsa9tj

 

[DerekJ]

Even 1959 BN4s did not have disc brakes so either a PO installed them, or just possibly (although unlikely) you have one of the last BN4s made which might have received discs similar to the 3000 that immediately followed it into production. What number is your car?

 

[Hawkscoach]

Thanks guys! Derek, my car is a very late production 59 72587. it had front disc brakes on it and I asked on here a while back about it. The result seemed to be "keep the discs". So that is what I did. I am finally putting everything back together and keep running into small questions...........Bob/Richard, I was thinking that new leaf springs would make sense. What's another 300 bucks at this point........hathanks again. Doug

 

[nevets]

Interesting, but annoying to encounter a post titled "two easy questions", the subject of which could be just about anything.

 

[DerekJ]

Another possibility which I forgot to mention was that the discs could have been ordered as an option at the time of purchase. In this case rear discs would also have been fitted. The last BN4 was 74421 so yours is very close to the end. We know that early 3000s went out as 100-Sixs so maybe very late 100-Sixes got disc brakes, although I've never heard of one. Do you have a heritage certificate?

 

[Hawkscoach]

thanks Derek! Yes, I have the Heritage Certificate, however, it has been a few years since I even looked at it. The rear brakes are currently drum and I suspect a po added disc due to the obvious past racing indications of the car. Also, I want to thank everyone for the help, especially Steve for the link to Rich Berman's site. Those pictures will save me hours and hours. Nevet, I will make sure my future posts are more descriptive. My apology. Regards, Doug

 

[TimK]

Rich Berman has a picture of the caliper end:
https://tinyurl.com/lgsa9tj

The photo in Rich's album is #689 out of 700. Yes I looked through them all!
Thanks Rich, for all your photo work. Now that the car is done (beautifully), you should have time to organize the photos!