[Healeys] Bad Brakes - Now Good Brakes

[Curt/Nancy Arndt]

Patrick,

Even though I haven't tried mine out on the BN1 yet, I was told years ago to
have my shoes redone with "Woven Segmented Brake Linings."   According to
some of the gurus in the San Diego and So. Cal. Association, Mal Dougherty
and Don Fisher to name two, they are they best thing short of disc brakes.

Here's a link to a firm out on the US East coast that appears to supply
them.

http://www.allfrictions.com/portfolio.html

I'm no expert.  What say the rest of the list?

Cheers,

Curt

On Sun, Jan 31, 2010 at 4:15 PM, Quinn, Patrick <
Patrick.Quinn at det.nsw.edu.au> wrote:

> G'day
>
> Perhaps you might recall a few months back I asked for the collective
> wisdom
> concerning the brakes on the BN3?
>
> I replaced the linings on the front shoes and while I had excellent pedal
> it
> just wouldn't stop. I received great advice as to brakes hoses, skimming
> drums
> and so on.
>
> Well I can report that they are now working as well as they did before. I
> borrowed a set of shoes, both front and back from a A90 sedan with slightly
> softer lining material and while there was better braking overall, there
> was
> still some room for improvement. Next I had the original shoes front and
> rear
> relined again with the softest lining material available. I also changed
> the
> rear brake hose.
>
> During the reassembly it was noticed that while the closeness was correctly
> adjusted the whole of each rear shoe was not running parallel with the
> drum.
> There is that small adjusting screw that when moved alters the lateral
> movement of each shoe. With a little deft movement with a spanner and
> screwdriver that was put to right.
>
> The front hoses were to be changed, but we found out that the new hoses
> were
> too short. So on refitting the old hoses, the thread on one of the front
> cylinders was stripped. On checking it was three-quarter stuffed to begin
> with. Anyway on checking the casting number we managed to find another
> wheel
> cylinder in amongst a dusty box and after a little honing and cleaning it
> was
> as good as new.
>
> Except that it was 1 inch diameter while those fitted to the BN3 are 7/8
> inch.
> Same casting number, but different diameter. Can someone tell me please
> what
> the standard inside diameter of the front wheel cylinders of the BN1, BN2,
> BN4
> and BN6 please?
>
> Excuse my ignorance of hydraulic science, but I am told that by increasing
> the
> front cylinders from 7/8 inch to 1 inch it will improve the brake
> performance
> considerably. The brakes are not boosted and the car is fitted with a
> standard
> AH100 brake master cylinder.
>
> Hoo Roo
>
> Patrick Quinn
> Sydney, Australia