[Roadsters] Brake Problem

[Jerry Krakauer]

Back in the day the Dunlop cylinders did have a reputation of seizing. The
good news was that  their external bolt on design made it very easy and
quick to change, four bolts, brake line and bridge tube and a bit of
bleeding. Since they went for around $30 new, nobody bothered to rebuild.
I also agree with John, with the right pads(I used Ferodo DS11 racing
material, which would hardly work at all when cold!) they were very good
brakes for the time, and worked well with the alfin drum rears(running
Nissan 'green stuff' linings.

Jerry Krakauer
SRL 311 00099

-----Original Message-----
From: Datsun-roadsters [mailto:datsun-roadsters-bounces at autox.team.net] On
Behalf Of J Sandhoff via Datsun-roadsters
Sent: Sunday, July 12, 2020 2:48 AM
To: dave
Cc: datsun-roadsters at autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Roadsters] Brake Problem

If the rotors are beyond their wear limit, then the front pads will
not engage. Firm pedal but no stopping power up front. And the fronts
normally do the vast majority of the work.

Virtually the same front systems were used on Jaguars and Studebakers
- cars twice as heavy - so a properly working system has plenty of
stopping power. Unless all of the front cylinders are seized -
unlikely but possible, I suppose - then I suspect the problem is not
the calipers.

If everything looks OK, then crack open a front bleeder, cover it
firmly with your thumb, cover your thumb with a rag 'cause this is
gonna squirt, and have a friend slowly depress the pedal. See if the
front circuit is building pressure. Bad proportioning valve (single
master) or bad master (dual master) if little pressure. On a dual
master car the red 'B' dash light would also light up if the pressures
were unbalanced.

Be warned that if the front cylinders are internally pitted -
extremely likely unless the fluid was flushed every couple of years -
then pushing the pistons back in to install new rotors or pads will
likely lead to leaks. This is because the piston and attached seal
will be pushed back into the pitted area. No solution except resleeve
or replace.

Brake maintenance has been heavily discussed in the distant past but
all that info is buried in the dusty archives. There may be writeups
preserved in the 311s forum. I miss the lively discussions that used
to occur here on the mailing list...

I also miss seeing my Roadster buddies in person :-(

-- John
    John F Sandhoff   jsandhoff at gmail.com   Sacramento, CA


On Sat, Jul 11, 2020 at 6:18 PM dave via Datsun-roadsters
<datsun-roadsters at autox.team.net> wrote:
>
> Some had advised me to find a gravel road and see what I could discover.
>
>
>
> Honestly there really are no gravel roads around here.
>
>
>
> I tried today pumping the pedal.  No difference
>
>
>
> But then I got it up to 40+, took it out of gear and stomped the brake
pedal with everything I had. The right rear pretty much stopped.  Did it
again, and both rear wheels left some rubber.
>
>
>
> Clearly, as I had suspected, I have no front brakes.  But when I bleed the
fluid flows on all four corners.
>
>
>
> So where is the best place to have the front rotors rebuilt???
>
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>
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