Thanks, everyone, for your suggestions for tracking down my braking
problem. Once the wheels were off and I could inspect the brakes, the
problem was rather obvious.
The right front caliper was rather wet. I unbolted it from the car and
cleaned it off with "Brakleen" while still attached to the flex hose; the
idea was to reapply some pressure to the caliper and see where the leak
started again from. It wasn't that hard, I didn't have to apply any
hydraulic pressure to see where it's coming from.
The caliper itself is leaking from between the 2 halves, inside upper
surface between the two "bridge bolts", as they're called in the service
manual. I bolted it back up and tightened the bolts several times in
attempts to stop it, eventually going _way_ beyond the 45 & 60 ft/lb
suggested, to no avail. It still weeps a bit, just sitting there; no sense
pressurizing it merely to see it squirt brake fluid all over my car.
I understand you're not supposed to "split" the caliper. I had done so
once before, not yet knowing this, but cannot remember whether it was on
this car or my old SV Alpine. Plus, I had _these_ calipers rebuilt, for
cubic money, at a place in Virginia that supposed to be expert in old car
brakes (had the rear cylinders re-sleeved in brass, too), but not
necessarily on Sunbeams. So how the caliper got in this condition is open
to question. I hope the LF caliper does not develop the same problem later.
Leafing through the catalogs, I se that Rick @ Sunbeam Specialties lists
complete calipers, but Classic Sunbeam does not (they're on this List?).
Anybody else recommended, as a backup, for a caliper in a hurry?
Tom Hall wrote:
>The best quick and dirty test is to find an <bold>open</bold> paved area
>with clean pavement. At reasonably slow speeds (10 -12 mph) you jump on
>the brakes locking them up.
I'm not sure I wouldn't rather keep the brake problem than flat-spot the
new Yoko's with <5 miles on them. Duh, I guess I could borrow a set of
"beater wheels".
At the same time, I guess I better ditch the front pads, having been
soaked in fluid. It's a shame, they have very little wear.
Spell-check silliness: recommending changing "Brakleen" to "Barcelona"!
Lawrence R. Wright
Purchasing Analyst
Andrews Office Products, Divison of USOP
PH 301-386-7923 FX 301-386-5333
lrw@aop.com
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