[Roadsters] Late front brake rebuild

[John F Sandhoff]

Some random mumbling, for what they're worth...

> Unfortunately no previous owner had ever removed the plastic sleeving on
> the front hard lines. I'm sure that's what at least contributed to the
> pinhole.

Yes, that plastic covering is evil. BTDT, lost my fronts one day
because the line under the plastic corroded (thank you, S/Brake
light!). That covering traps moisture and should be carefully removed.
But don't nick the tube while removing it!!!

> Like I mentioned I think the only safe thing to do is replace all
> four hardlines. Any suggestions regarding where I get them? I doubt
> Autozone or even NAPA would even know what I was asking for!

If you note the lines use a combination of double flare and ISO flare.
Nothing something the FLAPS is likely to carry :-) And don't forget
the Roadsters have SAE fittings!

BTW, here's something to watch for. There was a time when the OEM
crossover lines were coming from Nissan mislabeled. The tubes are
different, left side and right side, and are not interchangeable. There
was a batch of 'side A' tubes that were part-numbered as 'side B' (I
forget which side was mis-labeled). Created lots of confusion. The
part number said it was correct, the dealer said 'you got what you
ordered', but it was wrong... There may still be some of these lurking
out there, so if your new pipe doesn't fit, there may be a reason.
 
> As far as the rears are concerned, I did look at the diagrams in the tech
> wiki on 311s.org and while it shows the mechanical adjuster on the bottom
> and the wheel cylinder on top, mine are the other way around.

The diagram is wrong, the car is correct :-)
The original manuals had several things reversed or upside-down. The
best example was showing the transmission disassembled from the
wrong (closed) side of the case.

> On the later, dual M/C cars, are they set up diagonally (LF/RR & RF/LR)
> or is it just front & rear?

Front and rear. All the lines route to a differential-pressure block on
the firewall, right side. There's a little wizzit with a wire on the top -
that's a switch that is activated if the pressure between the two sides
varies too much (turning on the S/Brake light and letting you know
that one circuit has lost pressure).

> This is the first time I've worked on the front brake of a roadster and
> I knew they are more fiddly than many others.

No more fiddly than the Studebakers and Jaguars that have the same
components. If those four pistons can stop my two ton 'Stude, they
can stop my one ton Roadster.

Problems arise from common issues: Internal corrosion and bad rebuilds.
There's a center pin that can be bent by less-than-careful disassembly.
That pin is what provides the 'pullback' to unload the pads when
the pedal is released. And too-thin rotors! Firm pedal, no stopping?
Check the rotor thickness!

-- John
     John F Sandhoff   sandhoff at csus.edu   Sacramento, CA