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Re: [Healeys] Brake Question

To: healey.nut@gmail.com
Subject: Re: [Healeys] Brake Question
From: philritten@aol.com
Date: Fri, 01 Aug 2008 09:51:02 -0400
All,

The pedal is firm, it just isn't at the very top (say 1/2 to 1 inch from the 
top). Otherwise, the brakes seem to work pretty well (for 4 wheel drum).

Alan, I have a BN4/6. They were using some sort of bleeding kit (not sure 
exactly what it was). Curiously (for my own knowledge) does it matter if?you 
start on the Right Rear instead of the Left Rear?

Thanks,
Phil


-----Original Message-----
From: Alan Seigrist <healey.nut@gmail.com>
To: philritten@aol.com
Cc: healeys@autox.team.net
Sent: Thu, 31 Jul 2008 8:33 pm
Subject: Re: [Healeys] Brake Question



Phil -

In my 25 years of owning Healeys, this is the first time I have EVER heard of 
this.? If what they say was true, you would be able to buy new drums from Moss 
motors, but as you know you cannot buy new brake drums for these cars - that's 
because they don't wear out!

The adjustment bolts on these cars will take up any amount of slack so I'd say 
your shop has been sniffing some brake pad vapors.? 

Phil - what car do you have?? Is it a BN1 or a BN2?? Or BN4/6?? One thing that 
is very particular about many of the drum brake healeys is they are very 
sensitive to how the brake system is bled.? This is what is causing your 
problem.? The brake system is best bled using an "ezibleed" kit which 
pressurizes the brake reservoir and makes sure all air is worked out of the 
system.? It MUST be bled in the following order:

Left Rear
Right Rear
Left Front
Right Front

If your shop has not bled the brakes in this way, then this is your problem, 
not the drums.? You can confirm this by getting into your car and pumping the 
brake pedal quickly once or twice - if the pressure comes back after pumping 
the pedal, this means they have not properly bled the system.? 

Find a better shop where they know what they are doing, or try to learn how to 
do this yourself.? Doing brakes on Nissans and Fords is not the same as a '50s 
era Healey.

Alan

'52 A90
'53 BN1
'64 BJ8



On Fri, Aug 1, 2008 at 9:13 AM, <philritten@aol.com> wrote:

All,

The shop that was working on my brakes told me that they had adjusted my brakes 
( 4 wheel drum) out as far as they could, and that the reason the pedal won't 
come all the way to the top is that the drums are worn from 50 years of use 
(it's firm and almost all the way to the top). Is that possible? They said that 
drums are often good for only three sets of pads. If so, do you eventually have 
to put a lining in the drum as the drums are no longer made? I've never heard 
that drums could wear out. I thought the only way was if they were "turned". I 
know that in the old (!) days there were rivets on the pads which could cause 
damage.

Thanks in advance,
Phil
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