I pulled Bugsy's left rear brake apart today and replaced the large spring at
the top of the brake shoes with a spare. I had Bugsy out yesterday and the
slinky being passed hand to hand followed by a snap every few seconds noise
went away when I ran into a heavy shower. As soon as things began to dry out,
the noise reappeared. At that point this stange new noise that had been
bothering me for the past few weeks was immediately confirmed in my mind as a
Brake / Brake Spring type noise. Frank C. you were right as usual with your
diagnosis. Brakes went back together, rear adjustment screws were tightened,
things buttoned up and voila no noise. I spent about a half hour of driving
around and looks like I fixed the problem. Brake spring I replaced looked
identical to one I put in, nothing broken but one end looked like it was bent a
hair more than the other spring.
Someone once told me 90% of a Spridgets braking comes from the front brakes.
After examining th3e rear shoes I agree. Both left and right shoes show contact
on only the top rear portion of the shoes over about a 3" area. Hopefully
bringing out the adjustment wedges until shoe just starts to drag and then
backing off one full turn is the correct adjustment amount.
Happy to have Bugsy sounding happy once again.
Jim Gruber
Bugsy '68 Sprite (future Bugeye in disguise)
Cincinnati, OH
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