Denise,
I have always been amused by some of the "puffery" language used by VB
in their catalog. "Upgraded" rear wheel cylinders are nothing more than
the wheel cylinders for GTs. Different internal diameter yields
different braking pressure.
For your info file - in 30 years of driving the same MGB, only once did
I experience weak braking from water. This occurred during an extremely
heavy rainstorm, with lots of standing water on the road. Upon
application of the brakes, braking from the front was ineffective until
the pads wiped away enough of the water to grab. The effect was
momentary and normal braking was restored rather quickly.
I'll be most interested in what the probem is.
Bill
xyzabcde@earthlink.net wrote:
>
> Hi Charley,
>
> The reason I haven't tested any part of the brake system at this point is
>that I
> have 20 years and 200K miles of driving data to work with. In that time, I've
> verified many times that all portions of the the brake system work and nothing
> has changed lately. I asked for the list wisdom on this one before I did much
> investigation because I wanted to know which I would be looking for--a problem
> with my car, or a design defect.
> Now that I know that I'm looking for relative braking power between the front
> and rear brakes, I know what I need to do to test it, including what you
> suggest. I know that there's no major failure in my braking system, but
> something is marginal and I plan to quantify it before I change anything.
>
> However, I was looking through parts catalogues today, and discovered
>something
> that suggests that this may just be "the nature of the beast." Victoria
>British
> offers upgraded rear wheel cylinders. Here's what they say:
>
> "Under heavy braking, MGB roadsters and all MGC's have a tendancy for the rear
> brakes to lock up. Replacing them with upgraded rear wheel cylinders reduces
> the rear brake pressure and creates a better balance between front and rear
> braking."
>
> If I can't find anything that would diminish the braking power of the front
> brakes, I may try these wheel cylinders. However, I still like the idea of an
> apportioning valve so I can adjust the balance to any value, but that would
> require major replumbing.
>
> Thanks for the suggestion and send along any others you have. I'll let the
>list
> know what I find.
>
> Denise Thorpe
> BTW, black widow spider webs are tougher than other webs, so I can tell by
>feel
> when I'm in danger.
>
> Charley & Peggy Robinson wrote:
> >
> > Hi Denise,
> >
> > Have you jacked up the front of the car and tested the front brakes to
> > see how they work? Forgive me if I've missed something but all I've
> > seen is conjecture.
> >
> > CR
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