Doing a bit more on preparation.
First the front hubs. The good news was they still had the original Timken bearings - or so I thought.... However when I looked at one of them it was totaly trashed inside. It looks like a bearing had broken up at some time judging by the damage. Even the step which locates the bearing outer race was destroyed. Someone had done a quick fix and popped in a new bearing but that's not really an acceptable solution so I am looking for a replacement.
damaged hub by
Robin Martin, on Flickr
And the brake calipers. They are almost the same as those used on the Triumph Spitfire (Girling type 14) so there are plenty of replacements available. But, after experience with buying bits for the engine I am a bit suspicious of some of the stuff that is available. So I thought I would have a go at stripping them - keeping in mind they are at least 50 years old and haven't seen any use for at least the last 30!
Following a good tip I cut the end off an old flexi brake pipe, screwed the uncut end into the caliper and used my compressor to blow down the other. This allowed me to have the caliper safely in a bucket at arms length just in case any of the pistons came flying out!
Three of the four came out "easily" but the last one wouldn't budge.
Now I followed another good tip! I put back the piston in the caliper with the stuck one but in an almost out position. I then filled the caliper with water (yes really) with the bleed nipple screwed up and then a spare bleed nipple where the brake line should go. I used a couple of clamps to push back the "good" piston and Hey Presto the water pressure was sufficient to get the stuck piston moving! Amazing!
Finally I split the calipers. You are not supposed to do this but I couldn't see any other way of properly inspecting and cleaning the bores. There is only a single O ring to worry about and this comes with the refurb kit you can get from Bigg Red. And, suprise suprise, everything looks good even though there was rusty crud in most of them!
stripped calipers by
Robin Martin, on Flickr