3 replies to this topic

[phil_clubman]

hey all.

today was the first day i had to give my car a good drive after a hell of a lot of work this weekend. it started on friday i went to pick up a set of metro turbo vented and grooved discs, capilers, drive flanges braided breaks lines and a few new pipes.

typically my car new something was going to be changed and on the way one of my breaks locked on, i lost all indiicaters, brake lights and revers lights. i thought was the handbrake jammed as id just put it on on a hill when come to some lights. anyway carried on and got to the guys house were i was getting the breaks from. we hada chit chat and then got on with fitting the brakes. jacked up the rear to start with to check the handbrake and it wasnt the hand brake jammed on. after a lot of head scratching if turned put the master cylinder had failed and the piston inside wasnt returning. knowing i needed a new master cylinder and wanting to get rid of the brake servo as im not a huge fan of cluttered engine bays i decided to get a non servo cylinder and pedal.
so off comes the master cylinder and servo and pedals and old brake assembley and on goes new calipers flagnes and discs and new brake pipes. put the new master cylinder on and the pedals back on but as tightening the brakes master cylinder one of the bolts thread pritty much falls off. pedals come back off and now a new pedal box goes on.

finally get the brake system on including new cylinders on the rear and started trying to find out what blew the fuse to make me lose the electrics. took out the dash and pulled the black felt stuff off and there was this huge mass of tangled wires, bare wires, cut wires and an old alarm system. pritty much everythin electrical was wired up all to one brown wire (which im am told is permanent live and not how it should be) i now nothing about wiring so the guy who sold and helped me with the brakes pritty much ripped the entire front wiring loom out and redid the entire front loom.
but while he was at that he noticed the top dash rail was completly loose as was the air vents for the window so then out came the window to sort that out.

by now its monday and we just got it going in time for me to get to work. but i didnt drive it to work as my mate gives me a lift to keep petrol and milage down. only went out in it tonight to fill up and i was amazed, its a completly different animal, the breaks are that good it'd stop on a penny, the demister actually works and theres not the slightest little rattle on the inside of the car. it just makes the car feel so tight and solid its great. i used to get all sorts of rattles and squeaks.

any i was bored so i though id share with everyone.

phil

[Prawn]

Congratulations, sounds like a whole load of work!!! Where did the never ending supply of new bits come from? New master cylinder, new pedal box, new wheel cylinders! all unplanned!

How does it feel going from servo'd to non servo'd? I'm looking to do the same change on mine soon.

[stardude]

sounds like you had a good time

i too am interested in how different it feels, as i plan to do this soon.

my servo always gets in the way, and my previous mini has no servo, and i had no probles driving that.

[phil_clubman]

hey.

the guy whos house i was at builds minis so hes got tunnes of parts. the brakes feel a lot better. you have to pres the pedal a bit harder but thats about it really and you soon get used to it. id also reconmend the metro turbo brakes to anyone.

phil