[sized front brake piston]

All very interesting, I wasn't convinced  that "stretching" the rubber boot, especially in this cold weather could have happened, I was perhaps a little overexcited. Releasing the air in the system does make more sense, and I can't say I wasn't told, by many and often.

The fact the air has now found its way back to the master cylinder mean my problems are over?

Thanks all                David

[sized front brake piston]

Just an update on the brake issues.

It's blinking cold in my "workshop" so I was reluctant to pull the callipers again and unclip the dust boots.

After a suggestion by a member of my local group (East Saxons)

I tried this, I set up a length of 2x1 from  a plywood pad on the front seat to the brake pedal, with just enough pressure to bring the pads into contact with the disk and left it for 24 hours the idea being to teach the dust covers what to do. I didn't hold out much hope of success, stretching the boots in this cold weather was in my mind a bit of a non starter. so before removing the 2x1 I set up a jury rig camera holder and set it to movie mode, all good. but when I removed the prop I looked at the film, I was a little annoyed nothing recorded just a still image.......but when I actually locked at the brakes I could see why, nothing had moved the pads hadn't pulled back from the disks, the movie was working but as nothing moved.............I tried the brake pedal and it just felt normal, no excess travel, just felt right.

I'm not claiming this is the whole answer, but it's interesting, when the weather warms up a bit I'll take the car out for a gentle run up and down the lane and see what's what. In the meantime I have put the 2x1 back in place for a couple of days, can't do any harm.

Thanks all for your help and advise, and thank you Richard C R for your idea.  David

 

[sized front brake piston]

I may have overestimated the gap between pad and piston but it is certainly considerable, the pedal travels about halfway to the floor before it feels "normal".

I do have pads and shims fitted, the pads themselves have plenty of "meat" on them, I doubt I have driven more than 500 miles since I fitted them,

One way or another I will find a way to watch what actually happens when the pedal is pressed................and released.

I am bleeding the brakes on all 4 wheels.

My feeling is still that the new dust boots are pulling the pistons back,  I think that explains why if pushed in quick succession the second push on the pedal feels normal, if push comes to shove I will unclip one end of the dust covers and see if that changes anything.

I am starting to think that even when I do get this sorted I may well run the car down to the local garage, just for peace of mind.

Thanks as ever for all your help and advise,   David 

[sized front brake piston]

Thanks all for your suggestions, I really do appreciate your advise.

When I look at the pistons they are 1/4" back from the disks both sides both disks, this is what leads me to suspect the new bellows type bust covers.

I did all the bleeding with the hand brake on, is that wrong? in point of fact I had to back of the rear shoes one notch as they were binding very slightly with the hand brake on.

I do not understand how the piston seals could cause this problem, could you explain why they might please.

I am quite prepared to take off the callipers  and try the pedal travel without dust covers, but first I have to get more DOT4 and possibly another set of dust covers from an alternative source (recommendations welcome) alternatively should I just bite the bullet and buy complete new callipers? once again recommendations welcome. I would rather not go the junk and replace route it goes against the grain and I have read of some bad reviews of new callipers.

thanks all David

 

[sized front brake piston]

Well back to the TR today, bled the brakes for the 4th time..................it really has made no difference, except that I now have a an empty new one litre bottle of DOT4 and one full bottle of DOT 4 that I have to get rid of. 

The new dust boots idea sounds plausible ( I bought mine from Rimmer Bros,) failing that I really am out of ideas, Am I expecting too much? do other members brakes have  much free travel before you can feel the pads contact the disks.

Thanks all for your time and patience, David

[sized front brake piston]

hello Eufentes

I haven't managed to back into my workshop these last few days, cracked a rib doing another job, not a huge problem, I've done it several times before! .but it does make messing about with the TR a little "uncomfortable"

Hopefully I'll get back to it after the weekend , 

Thank you for your interest, David                  

[sized front brake piston]

I defer to those far more experienced than I.

Having slept on the problem I am sure you are right, why would the pistons go all the way back in to the callipers? 

Simple answer jack up the front end take off the wheels and have a bl**dy look If they look like they are up to the disk then that's my silly theory out of the window. Also check the master cylinder for wear / ovality on the pin

I'll bleed the system again, sorry to be a pain

[sized front brake piston]

Thank you for your swift reply,

I will try bleeding the brakes one more time as it's fairly straightforward.

My reason for thinking it was what I think is called "piston roll back" is two fold

1 it fits my pet theory and seems to make sense.

2 when I press the brake pedal twice the second push is much more the mark but given a few seconds perhaps about thirty I'm back to square one...excess travel, in my mind in that thirty seconds the pistons have gone back to there start position.

[sized front brake piston]

That's a nice looking piece of kit, but I think I have possibly found the answer to problem.

Being "clever" when refitting the brake pads I pushed them back as far as I could, makes sense to me so much easier to slide the callipers over the disks?

I think the problem is now I have a situation where I have to push the peddle about an inch just to get the pads to contact the disks, hence the "dead" space.

Does this theory make sense?

If so what can I do about it.?.............without removing the callipers preferably.

[sized front brake piston]

After much faffing about all back together now without leaks, with the callipers on the bench it was very much easier to fit the bent copper pipes (thanks TRGB  for really quick fuss free service). System blead twice as instructed by the workshop manual...........but I have about an inch of travel on the pedal before I get any resistance the first time I press the pedal down. I don't remember that happening previously, is it normal?

[sized front brake piston]

Thanks Stuart, TRGB do the straight pipes too, I was just hoping I could get them ready made.

[sized front brake piston]

Well it looks like both Hamish and Lebro were right, it was quite straightforward to rebuild the callipers, even getting the pistons back in was fairly easy.

Then I went and mucked it all up refitting the copper calliper brake pipe fitting (one side only) I overtightend and stripped the copper thread, I assume it is only the copper thread I stripped, there is no way I can have stripped the thread in the calliper.............is there?

On that subject I'm having some trouble finding some new replacement items (calliper to brake pipe) the original and the spare I messed up are pre bent but I can't remember where I got the spare from. 

Any ideas?

[sized front brake piston]

My goodness 

That's a lot of information, thanks all.

I had no intention of splitting the callipers, so that is one problem solved. having seen Hamish's photos I think my problems are fairly small  I cleaned up all the parts today and found only very minor pitting on the non business ends of the pistons if this is a problem I will obviously spend the few extra quid and get stainless.

Thank you all again David

[sized front brake piston]

Thank you both for your replies, and to Richard C R  for calling me.

It seams to me that for the sake of £20.00 ish. I should give refurbishment a go, after all I have plenty of time. If I don't feel happy with the result then I'll go for the new / refurbished  callipers.

Thanks again David

[sized front brake piston]

Out driving recently and became aware of a noise from front n/s brake, on examination noticed the brake was rather warmer than I feel it should be. Today I removed the calliper and found one of the pistons to be sized solid, to cut a long story short I worked out that the only way to get the offending piston out was to put back the free piston (as best I could.....about halfway) and blow them out with the airline, this worked a treat.

My questions are should I now replace both front callipers?  if so any recommendations?

Is it feasible to replace the rubber seals?  If so any tips?

Obviously to get the pistons back in the callipers they have to go in 100% square any tips on achieving this would be really helpful.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

David

[Track rod ends]

The "problem" I have is when I tighten up the nylock nut it pulls in the taper and squashes the rubber gatter flat thus increasing it's diameter to the point where it touches the disk brake stone guard with the obvious result.

No I haven't yet had the tracking done, I'm trying to get it at least roughly right before i take it to the proper garage.

Lock stops? This is something I am unaware of...............please expand.

Thank you for your interest.

David

Thank you all for your input, I have torqued up to the 55 lbs recommended in the WSM and the gaters are now as flat as a pancake but not quite touching the backplates I have approx 2mm clearance.

There is indeed a cut out on the backplate, without which the rubber would certainly be in contact.

I assume as there is no contact now there never should be?

I'm going to book in for an alignment check and talk to them about the situation but I doubt they will be able to offer any solutions but at least I will have correct tracking.

Thanks again for your help and advise. David

[Track rod ends]

The "problem" I have is when I tighten up the nylock nut it pulls in the taper and squashes the rubber gatter flat thus increasing it's diameter to the point where it touches the disk brake stone guard with the obvious result.

No I haven't yet had the tracking done, I'm trying to get it at least roughly right before i take it to the proper garage.

Lock stops? This is something I am unaware of...............please expand.

Thank you for your interest.

David

[Track rod ends]

I'm really sorry I'm sure this has been asked many times before, but I can not find the answer I need.

The last set I fitted less then a thousand miles ago have wrecked the rubber boots by rubbing against the disk brake shields.

The trouble is the more I tighten the bolt on the taper the more the rubber flattens and rubs. Am I doing something wrong?

Short of cutting off some of the disk shield what can I do.

Thank you for all and any advise.

 

 

[Ignition timing]

Thanks Ralf and Keith

The plugs, that's an interesting point, at the moment i'm running those NGK multi point plugs, I will change them tomorrow and see what happens.

I did pull the plugs yesterday to check the colour and they were a healthy brown colour, but for the sake of a few quid I'll try The cooler plugs as suggested.

See you Thursday Richard

[Ignition timing]

Thank you Gents.............if I'm still allowed to use that term.

From your joint input I have to conclude that in all probability I'm going to have to live with it to some extent, a shame it's a little bit embarrassing when you pull up in your shiny little classic.........and sit there for what seems like an age (probably no more than 5 seconds) with your pride and joy spluttering away.

I will continue to try adjusting the thumb wheel on the distributer to see if I can improve the situation, without loosing my new found performance. I will also try using a fuel additive, and diluting the nasty E10 with the best petrol I can find. I will also look at improving the cooling as it seems the hotter the engine (the longer the run) the less the engine wants to stop.

I know many people suggest a build up of carbon in the cylinder head and on the pistons, my engine has only done about 500 miles since a full rebuild so that potential problem can go to the back of the queue..............I hope.

Thanks Folks

 

[Ignition timing]

Thank you for your reply and advise

Took the little beast out for a run today, cos your supposed to, drove really badly the car not the driver! still it was nice to get out even if it did take what seemed like an age for the engine to finally stop.

So as the performance was really poor I decided to go back to basics and start from fresh with the static timing, what a difference! it pulls like a train................still got 'orrible run on though,but that's another story. current theory is  a bit too much retarded  (once again the car and not the driver....probably, and bl**dy E10 fuel put in a couple of gallons by mistake.

 

Thanks again Lebro

[Ignition timing]

Sorry folks, another probably daft question.

I tried improving the ignition timing on my '67 4A this afternoon with mixed results.

Checking with a timing light I found the little hole on the crank was approx. one inch to the right of the pointer. Is that a lot? the car runs fine albeit with a little over run on switch off.

I turned the distributer to get the pointer and the hole to line up but set like that the engine won't run........at all. in the end I managed to get the engine to run nicely with no over run with the hole / pointer only half an inch out. Mind you not road tested yet.

How can setting the timing marks "right" result in a non running engine?

Glad of all and any advise David

[setting fuel mixture]

Never overlook the obvious.

Having had a good fiddle a bit of a think I went back to basics.

It all started with its reluctance to start in the cold weather, battery was good, spark was good so it had to be a fuel problem, not rocket science.

Now in the summer (basically the only time I really drive it, I know i'm a wimp) it's no problem start perhaps not on the button but reasonably well.

That made me think, well perhaps the choke isn't working properly, I could start in cold weather but only after a dozen or more attempts and some judicious throttle jiggling, not the sort of thing you want to be seen doing in Tesco's car park let alone outside the pub on club night.

So looking really hard at the choke gubbins I noticed the choke itself was really hard to pull out, a quick check  on this forum put me straight, it's no good trying to reroute the cable so it looks tidy and doesn't rub the underside of the bonnet it's go to be as smooth a run as possible, and if it doesn't foul the bonnet that's  a bonus.

Further fiddling revealed the choke cable was actually never really operating the butterflies, neither were they actually closing either, which made me think, again! Perhaps  the choke never really closing might have lead to the rich running and my inability to set the carbs properly, could it also cause the over run on switching off?

So having simply routed the choke cable properly and oiled the linkages a bit...............it started second time even in this chilly weather! if is sorted out the over run time will tell.

Thank you all for your help and advise .

David.

 

[setting fuel mixture]

Thanks both.

Dave, method three is one I haven't tried yet, but if its good enough for RR then its certainly good enough for me, I'll let you know how I get on, but I have a feeling i'm going to have to do a bit of stripping down and have a good look at the needles.

Marcel,  not sure when the last time was you drove on British roads, we don't have many roads that are smooth, straight and quiet enough to try this method, but I will be happy when I take the spark plugs out after any sort of drive if they are not black!

Thank you for your time and help David

 

 

[setting fuel mixture]

I had another look at this issue today, having made up my mind to follow Johns advise..............however I found that to achieve that small increase in tick over one of the carbs adjusting nuts was actually up against the carb body, so that was no good, despite taking the car for a short test drive and it running quite well albeit smelling "a bit Petroly"

I have moved on to option two, setting with the Colour Tune, this seems to have given me a decent result though I haven't been able to go for a decent run yet.

I am puzzled though as to why with option one (adjusting via the lift the piston method) one carb could only achieve the desired result with the nut screwed fully up. could I need new needles or something?

 

Thanks all David