MadaboutKitcars

plenty of WD?

I know you have a compressor, do you have any air tools? like a chisel...
hot air gun around housing? more WD, if it moved a mm it should go again, just keep hand out of way

Can i first of all apologise that this post will have a certain "carry-on" tint to it and that Mister Towed may have to leave the room for a glass of water before the end!

I have now finally got to the bottom of my rear end problems and i've managed to remove my sticky trunions by stripping everything apart and going at it hammer and tongs with some power tools.

I'm now in a position to insert the new linings, reassemble and give everything a darn good lube'ing.

I would recommend that any builder gives their trunions a least a once over during their build as years of neglect can lead to sticking and extra wear and this is easiest to spot and remedy when everything is stripped.

Fnaar. Fnaar. Glup...

I'm currently up to my elbows in grease and crud from the brakes and trunions and i'm realising that the old Haynes manuals could really do with more photos!

So after a quick check of this'ere interweb, i found some pages that while primarily Spitfire related, are also relevant to us Herald/Vitesse types and have loads of good hints, tips and photos for stripping, cleaning and rebuilding brakes!

http://www.totallytriumph.net/spitfire/brakes.shtml

In those pics it shows that the top springs go "behind" the brake shoes. On mine they were on front, so either someone somewhere over the last 43 years made a boo boo on mine or the Heralds are different?

Any of you lot know which they should go for us?

dave my springs were fitted behind the shoe`s this helps to pull them inwards, fitting to the front is the easyer, but tends to pull them forward and can cause binding drums and uneven wear..

Superb ta!¬

All done then, dave?

Still polishing it...

Nearly there...... i only have about an hr a night and even then not every night, so I'm ticking along.

I was reassembling the rear end last night and i've just got to double check the front callipers and bearings tonight before i can put it all back together and re-fill the brakes hopefully before the weekend (famous last words!) as long as there are no more emergency orders placed with Rimmers!

Status so-far on the original fail list:
1) Windscreen or wind deflector?
***I'm simply going to remove before retest. Although i may have a chat with him again first to see if he can change his mind!

2) Headlight aim too low.
***Still need to adjust - shouldn't take more than a few mins right at the end.

3) O/S Front wheel bearing noise
*** will check this tonight, although with the brakes "binding" i'm not at all sure if this was a real issue?

4) Front brakes binding.
*** i had a quick look and they seem fine to me, just minor lack of use. But I'm taking them off tonight to give them a quick clean and a once over. Hopefully i won't find anything serious.

5) Rear brakes binding.
*** All rear brake shoes, both pistons, both brake adjusters and both flexi hoses replaced. I've also given both sides a scrub down with a wire brush and a lick of Black paint to tidy it all up and i finally got both sides refitted last night!
NOW try and fail the rear brakes!

6) N/S & O/S front springs incomplete!
*** GAZ height adjustable shocks purchased along with 1" lowered Vitesse springs. These will be fitted once i've double checked the front callipers.
Slight annoyance is that the bottom shock seats are fractionally too large for the springs to sit on so they had to be ground down. But... my old grinder gave up the ghost half way through and had to be replaced

7)O/S drive shaft rubbing on flexi-hose.
*** Bracket adjusted, all sorted!

8) N/S rear lower suspension joint, excessive wear.
*** After much swearing and eventually cutting with a 1mm cutting disk i finally got the old one out and replaced it.
Seeing how bad it was i decided to do the other side as well while i was at it and knew what to do, and it was a good job i did and it only cost a few quid!

9) Brake balance.
*** Unable to check, but hoping that my complete rear end overhaul fixes this

10) Brake efficiency.
***Again, I'm unable to check, but hoping that my complete rear end overhaul fixes this

11) unable to check all w/bearings due to binding brakes.
*** If anyone can advise me how to check wheel bearings short of "giving them a wobble" it would be appreciated

12) some of the older welding repairs need attention.
*** I tidied up a few of the older patches with the grinder and i ended up having to replace two of them
That took ages as they were under the car, but i finally got the underseal on over the weekend, and came away with only a few minor welding burns.


So the rear end is all done (short of setting up the brakes) and hopefully the front end can be sorted out with a can of brake cleaner and some tlc?

It would be nice to have it on the road for the Autojumble at the Bath & West showground the weekend after this! Even if it won't be polished too much by then

dave remove your brake shoe`s or pads this will take any rubbing noise away when checking your wheel bearings,should run free and no dry rubbing sound, if they do pack with lots of grease....

sounds like the MOT man is going to struggle ot find anything wrong with it this time!

Dave, you've done well...

I'm glad i am starting from scratch, i know you will agree, i think? And i can see where all my money has gone too. A lot of rebuild kits!

They'd better not find too much this time!
Although as I'm still learning what to do as i go, I'm dreading him somehow finding fault with a rear bearing or front trunion as i've not replaced those.
I'm also worrying about not overhauling the gearbox and diff, but then again i am paranoid at the best of times!

So tonight i refitted the rear brake pipes and handbrake cables.
Then the front N/S brake calliper was whipped off.
I had to replace the N/S solid brake line which was a 20 min job (i don't know why i used to avoid making brake lines?)
As far as i can see the calliper all looks fine with just the pad runners in need of a brush with a wire brush and hopefully that was all that was causing any sticking.

Is it easy/worth it to dismantle the entire callipers while i'm at it?

That said, with those off the front left hub spins nicely. it does make noise, but to me it sounds like a bearing noise and it sounds greased. I may just go and grab the bloke from the garage for advise before i reassemble.
Although......
One interesting development was the lack of split pins in both hub nuts! The N/S nut was loose and spinning freely! So i'll tighten that up tomorrow and hopefully that's all it will need and fingers crossed that it's not died in the meantime.

I do love these little surprises left over from previous amateur mechanics!

That's why I always strip it right back and do a nut and bolt rebuild - once the body is bonded on it makes everything that much more difficult! Time spent in the early stages makes running and maintaining it in the long term a lot easier!

But isn't that the beauty of these kits - everyone can take their own approach and learn a lot in the process. You will know your car inside out when you have finished.

Late last night i finally got the new front brake calipers and hoses fitted and the new shocks and spring on and bled the brakes and it's all done, sort of........

I bought GAZ height adjustable shocks and 1" lowered Vitesse springs and even with the shocks set to lowest, it still sits higher than with my cut down springs, but not massively
So i may have to have a tinker after the MOT.

Also the brakes are now massively better than they were! But on the first press of the pedal it does go nearly all the way to the floor, but with a lot of normal resistance. If i press it again it only goes 1/2 way. If i leave it for a few seconds then it still works but does travel further.

Seeing as before i changed all the pistons/callipers the pedal was spongy, but the pedal didn't go all the way down i'm pretty sure that the brake pedal cylinder is ok, i think just a bit more bleeding may be in order? I also had a servo/piston "go" on my old Capri so i know what that feels like, and this feels different, so fingers crossed.

So hopefully if it all goes well after some more brake bleeding and double checking tonight, i'll phone my nice MOT man tomorrow for another test

Sounds good, dave?

Maybe the springs will settle? More pics please.

Best of luck with the MOT and the ride height Dave.

It does sound like you've got air in the brake lines somewhere.

I had the same symptoms on an old mini decades ago when I sheared off a bleed nipple and couldn't afford to replace the cylinder. It did teach me to look a long way ahead for potential hazards though as you had to pump some pressure into the brakes well before you needed them...

good luck with the MOT Dave!

As GaryH says - more pics

Definitely air in system.....

Best way to get it all out is start on the nearside rear wheel , then offside rear , then move to nearside front , finally the shortest distance , ie. front offside ...

Old systems can be a pain ...you may need to pump the pedal several times until its hard and get someone to release the nipple whilst you hold it down.... ( theres enough inuendo there to keep Towed happy for hours - even the word inyourendo isn't safe !! )

The forced pressure of a pumped up pedal can get the air out more efficiently sometimes....a few goes like that can be better than hours of gentle bleeding...

On Skippy we had to "crack off" (inuendo intended) the T pieces front and rear but we never got to feel tight (ooo matron).... Pat

Cheers guys, It must be carry-on tribute night tonight! so i may as well carry on in the same vein


I've just finished pumping away vigorously in the garage and I'm pretty happy with how hard it feels now

I also finally took some pics of my inner wheel arch liners. They are made from 6mm exterior ply and consist of front, back and inner panels (no top) and all are bolted together with angle brackets and the entire structure bonded to the shell where they meet with bonding paste. They are also additionally braced in place as the additional rear cross member used to support the exhaust bolts to them (you can see the bolt head in the pic below) and the inner edges of the front panels are bonded to my seat belt frame. Making the whole rear of the car very rigid.

Important note for pre-inspection types - this cross member simply rests on top of the rear outriggers to hold it in place vertically and then bolts to the inner wheel arches to stop it sliding about. Therefore not requiring any chassis mods. Of course you could always bracket it to the rear outriggers as some minor additional brackets are allowed, but i didn't want to chance it!


Looking back. You can see i also I cleaned off and painted everything black while i was faffing around this last two weeks with the brakes and trunions. I don't want to show you guys up who are making everything REALLY shiny



Then i figured out how to turn the flash on!
Looking fwd.


Also while i had my rear end up in the air i decided to bite the bullet and put the reflectors on. It's not as bad as i was dreading.


Finally, as there is a Whiskey waiting for me, my nice new shiny callipers and shocks which, in case Towed hasn't quite chocked to death yet reading this thread tonight, includes a knob i can twiddle to make things harder!

Those front brake pipes look a little short? They look like they may be under tension when the suspension starts moving. Mr MOT man might have something to say about that......or it may be a trick of the camera!

Bit worried about your front brake hos[INDENT][/INDENT]e, the bend is quite tight. I just looked at mine and maybe my hoses are a tad longer.
Good luck with the Mot.
Nick

Bit worried about your front brake hos[INDENT][/INDENT]e, the bend is quite tight. I just looked at mine and maybe my hoses are a tad longer.
Good luck with the Mot.
Nick
Am I that slow at typing!

Hummm I will double check those hoses, but that pic was taken at extreme left lock and that hose is the same length as the ones that were on there before. I expect its just a camera angle thing, but cheers for the heads up

Just thinking about springs...

1" lowered Vitesse springs! thats the problem, its no longer a Vitesse - circa 25% lighter? So, does that make them 3/4" lowered springs and even when they settle, they maybe no more than an inch... I think we need to what Seanick has done.