Thought I'd share my brake repair experience today...
(others may benefit)
After rebuilding the M/C, cleaning and adjusting the
rear brakes (I saw nothing wrong with them), inspecting
the flexible lines for expansion/ballooning, and
rebuilding the front calipers I still did NOT get a
significant improvement in my braking.
After exhausting all the alternatives I finally broke
down and purchased a new master cylinder. (I feel they
are rather over-priced) The old M/C was well-pitted,
and I could force the pedal to the floor if I really
mashed it down.
I installed the new M/C today but ran into some
unexpected trouble. I jacked up the rear, because it is
difficult accessing the bleeders back there. The
fronts, on the otherhand, are very easy to open and
close without raising the car or pulling the wheels. By
jacking up the rear and leaving the front on the floor
I was unknowingly setting myself up for trouble.
After installing the new M/C, I began the brake
bleeding process. Even though I thought I was
adequately filling the reservoir, I was allowing air
into the front system (the REAR pocket of the
reservoir, which is higher by the way, than the front
pocket which feeds the rears). It seems by raising the
rear up so high I was offsetting the angle of the
reservoir enough to bring the rear pocket drain above
the level of the fluid. This happened despite the fact
I was periodically refilling the reservoir with fluid.
Man I tell you I was mystified, the more I pumped the
blakes and bled the system, the more air I got out of
the front. (Yet the back, whose front reservoir pocket
always remained below the fluid level, never produced
any air!!!)
I thought I had a defective new M/C until finally I
stood on the passenger side and took a long hard look
at the side of the M/C. At this point I could see the
rear line entering the M/C was just about at the same
level as the fluid itself! I was very relieved after I
lowered the rear and was able to successfully bleed the
front brakes.
The brakes did improve a lot with the new M/C although
I still wish they were better. I can lock the tires and
bring the car to a screeching stop now, however, and I
definately could not do that before. But I do need to
press fairly hard to accomplish this. At least the car
is definately drivable now, to the point where I don't
worry about my wife driving it (which she loves to do!)
I guess this is about as good as I can hope for with
these manual brakes???
===
--Rick
Spitfire page at http://www.apiinc.com/rick/spitrec.html
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