This past weekend I put the brakes back together. I did try the method
shown on the Chicago Land web site, but ended up going with the snap rings.
I bought the snap rings at the local hardware for $.25 each. It was simple,
and the wheel cylinders are held tightly with very little movement possible.
(A lot easier than bleeding the #%&$@% Master cylinder I might add.) In
fact I bought 6 snap rings so I've got some spares for future jobs. Now to
see how they hold up over the long haul. If I encounter any problems I'll
let you know.
Bleeding the brake systems was a horror story. I rebuilt or replaced the
master cylinder, both calipers, rear wheel cylinders and rubber hoses. Well
I bleed the master cylinder on the bench, had fluid shooting all the way
across the garage. Put it on the car, nothing. I pumped and pumped.
Finally I had the wife come out and pump while I removed the lines from the
master cylinder, still nothing. Took it out again and bled it on the bench
again, great. Put it back in and nothing. In frustration, I drilled a hole
in a spare cap I had and put low pressure on it from the compressor. I
would open one bleed screw at a time and let her go. It worked. At least
now I had pedal.
Thinking that all was well I decided to move the car out of the garage so I
could put up my new florescent lights. I had been working under a single 60
watt bulb, but I recently bought 2 florescent fixtures and wanted to get
them up, but the car with no brakes was in the way. Put the tires back on,
got it off the jack stands ready to move. Just outside the garage my 71 TR6
sat, so I moved it back to allow room to get the MGB out. Started up the B,
it went into gear real smooth (I just rebuilt the clutch hydraulics as well)
and started backing up. As we left the garage I stepped on the brake pedal
and all that I had in the garage was about gone. In a panic I started
pumping and got some brake back. I had visions on my son's B meeting my TR6
intimately. Luckily I had placed a brick in the driveway, just as a
precaution cause I know I wouldn't need it. Well between rapid pumping and
the brick the cars didn't meet this time.
Got my new lights up and back in the garage, very slowly, came the B. What
a difference, I can even see to put it back up on the stands. I took the
tires off again, and left it over night. Yesterday I bled the brakes again
in the conventional method. Got lots of air out and now the pedal feels
very firm. I don't know if using the compressor to drive the fluid through
caused air bubbles to build in the fluid or what. I do know that in future
I may use the compressor again, but I'll also let it sit over night and then
bleed it again in the conventional manner, by pumping the pedal.
But for now, all is well and life is good.
Ken Waringa.
-----Original Message-----
From: Mark and kathy LaPierre [mailto:mgtrcars@galaxyinternet.net]
Sent: Saturday, December 02, 2000 9:36 AM
To: Bill Saidel; Ken Waringa
Cc: MG
Subject: Re: Rear Wheel Cylinders
Bill,
Could it really be this simple? Is it necessary to use an extra shim to
take up any movement between cylinder and backing plate. The original E
ring of course is bent to take up any movement between the two areas. Any
back and forth or side to side movement when the brakes are applied, I would
think would be detrimental to the effectiveness of your braking
ability.
I'm seriously hoping this is a good fix because I too am tired of the
hit and miss on these snap rings. They usually end up flying clear across
the garage five or six times before they find there way home. ( Bent and
scarred beyond recognition, but still effective, so far).
I did view the suggested web sight on using the vise grips and that does
work. But the part of putting one end and the center of the snap ring in the
groove, at the same time, while the other end of said ring dangles off in
space, doesn't seem physically possible. A snap ring is just that, meant to
be "snapped" into place not gingerly pried. Correct me if I'm wrong(that
goes unsaid)
Thanks for this thread, it could cure one of my major head aches in this
hobby. Mark
----- Original Message -----
From: Bill Saidel <saidel@camden.rutgers.edu>
To: Ken Waringa <kwaringa@dynsys.com>
Cc: MG <mgs@autox.team.net>
Sent: Friday, December 01, 2000 7:08 AM
Subject: Re: Rear Wheel Cylinders
> Ken,
> I guess I became a novice regular on this here list when I dealt
> with those stupid clips. Yes, I ended up using snap rings. They work
> fine.
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