Well, Its going to be brake lines next....they are old and crudy looking..
on a '69 B that has sat for 8 years prior to 2000 miles of daily driving
in last three months.....and those miles apparently done on front brakes
only, as I discoverd frozen rear cylinders..so Heres the history/scenario...
Had a flat....., yeah well......off we go.....
found out front brake pads were thin, replaced with good thick newish..pads.
bled brakes, found out rear cylinders frozen, no fluid passing to rear...
replace seals in rear cylinders, cleaned up ok and rears work fine now...
although it is a bit of a hard push to get fluid out the back cylinders.
drive car, seems fine at first, but front brakes start heating up with front
disks...wheels tighten up toward a lock-up slowly ..and hot, release brake
fluid pressure at either front caliper and both wheels immediately loosen
up, drive the 1/2 mile back home....
rebuild master cylinder..(s) try two, get good used cylinder,,,finally get
new
rebuilt cylinder, still same problem....(very fast at replacing Master Cyl.'s
now though)
Clean out pressure switch, get new seals (o-rings & Pres plastic switch)
still persists,
try different working calipers, same, so..rebuild orig.s with new pistons,
all seals, new rubber brake lines on front, bleed, bleed master at bench, at
pressure switch, at wheels, bleed bleed one gallon of dot 4 by now.....!
still persists ..........getting very depressed...crazy, sledge hammer
time..... HELP.....
So, what changed with the rear brakes coming into play that causes the
front to gradually tighten & not loosen up till fluid pressure
released, or untill car sits for a few hours?
There is some slight pressure drop but is a slight drop/leak enough to cause
immediate
tightening, within a few miles of diving...? If car sits for a few hours, I
can take pedal to floor on first pump of brakes, and I have seen a very
slight dampening around one line connection at the three-way in back,
where the line exits its' connector, one drop a day or so..is this enough to
prevent the front part of system from fully disengaging / to tighten up...?
....found smooshed rear tow-truck hook assisted
brake line on back, replace with better one, although this is the one
with the slight leak, pedal feels better, still
tightening on front, so,
now to check restrictions/leaks on other rear line and
preparing to replace all brake lines.....what else is there.....the lines
are connected correctly at the master cylinder....the front of the master
cylinder...is connected to the front side of the pressure switch and the
rear to the rear side.....this is how my other "working" car is connected..
well....any sense that restrictions/slight leaks to rear of brake system
could keep front brake from releasing...?
also serviced wheel bearings and trued the rotors, one still has a slight
warp, but not very bad.....afterall they worked when the pads where thin
and the rear cylinders where frozen......
baffled and headed for brake line work, boy,,,,sure will be new brake
system when and if the Demons of Lucas give me FREEDOM.......
Any suggestions welcomed......I do have a sledge hammer..!
I recall the discussions on steel line replacement c/o Tery A, etc. back
around my moving time, I also wonder, as a road remedy till I can take
the week and $$'s or so to have lines done, are the VB copper brake lines a
road worthy option, for $60. they seem a very tempting quick replacement item,
and sure, may need carefull observation and possible replacement in a few
years, but, has anyone tried these copper lines...any feedback on
them...They are thicker to compensate for softness of copper, they have
correct connectors, YES ?.. .
Thanks....
Jim Fink
'69 MGB
'71 MGB
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