20 replies to this topic

[minidaves]

looks like what i have to deal with every week, the bodge fix is weld the bottom bracket in the correct place, seam weld it, the top i use a manifold washer and weld it tot he top mounting plate, and never ever had one come back yet.

cost for me to do it £60 ISH, if the studs snap on the servo bracket, then it comes to be doing a proper fix as then its a pedal box replacement to do the job proper.

dave

[TwoMonths]

Thanks for the insight Dave.

My original thought was to bodge the top bracket with washer. But I'm not sure what's left of the bracket is in good enough nick to be worth using. Also I figured by the time I'd made enough space to get in there to weld that I figured I might as well just replace it. Obviously I've just proved that I'm very naieve.

Pedal box replacement - something else to look up in the Haynes, though I get the feeling it might not be in there (I don't even know what one is).

[TwoMonths]

Update May 20th 2010

Not sure if anyone actually cares but I feel obliged to put some update details out of respect to the people that have taken the time and effort to help me.

So...
I eventually managed to get the nuts un-done that hold the brake assist servo in place (they also secure the upper bracket plate). My Halfrauds sockets weren't deep enough, some deeper ones borrowed from my Dad just slipped round, local parts place had nothing better, friends had nothing better and maintenance department at work didn't seem to have anything either. Then visiting my Godfather in Worcester I mentioned my plight and he pulled out a nice RS set of big Hex sockets. So armed with them and lots of plusgas the nuts came off!
A friend pointed out that what I thought was just a reservoir for the clutch was actually the master cylinder. With his help I got the clutch pedal disconnected - but unfortunately (he) lost the Clevis pin somewhere in the bulkhead so I need to buy another once I've worked out which one (minispares.com have several listed).
Eventually waggled the top bracket off and realised I am going to need a new gasket to go underneath it.
Then was looking at what to do about the remains of the bottom bracket. Another friend popped by and he was quite insistent that I grind it off. So I had a bash. I killed my grinder (a very cheap Kinzo job) three quarters of the way through the job. Have bought a new one (DeWalt) but not yet finished it off.
Next step is to finish the grinding then prep the area for welding. Also to tidy and paint that area of the bulkhead. Then to put everything back on again.


I'm just a bit further on that this picture.

[me madjoe 90]

Good work you were lucky to get them rusty buggers loose without striping the threads/rounding the nut.

I recently put a new braket on mine but it was abit rusty the hole for the steady bolt so i got a big penny washer to stop it shakeing around.

Oh and dont make the mistake of over tightening those pedal box bolts as i sheared one acidently and had to take the pedal box out drill the old stud out and then weld a bolt in. Pain in the back side

Good luck with it

[E-Tizzle]

hi
i have exactly the same problem as you TwoMonths, my bracket has rusted through but the steady is still holding on though.
i want to replace this, i think that the bottom half of the bracket is okay so it should just be bolting and no welding.
[attachment=98853:PICT0576.JPG]
could you just explain what you did please for me - removed the brake fluid resovior, servo, engine steady. any thing else? did you have to drain the brake fluid, and someone said something about bleeding the clutch.

and the other thing aswell, can you tell me the correct name for this engine steady bracket, because i have looked everywhere for 'engine steady bracket' 'brake servo bracket' 'engine steady bar' and i cant find a thing - not even in the haynes manual.

thanks a lot

[TwoMonths]

Update: (just in case anyone is still subscribed to this thread)

I eventually managed to get the servo and master cyclinders removed (undoing some of the bolts was a mission). Then I set to with an angle grinder (blew first one up, had to buy another) and got rid of most of the old bracket. (All this took me rather a long time to get round to and do - months). Then I got all a bit stuck about what to do next and how. A friend that works at a garage kept trying to persade me to let him just get it sorted for me. Eventually - realising I just wasn't up to the job at hand - I gave in and I'm delighted to say that they had it for only a short time and welded the new bracket it in, refitted all the various gubbins, welded part of the rear subframe, welded some of the sills, found another bracket thing (I didn't realise existed on the other side of the engine bay?) that had rusted to fluff too - replaced that, put a new tyre on and eventually wrote out an MOT ticket (one of the longest I've seen and my regular drive tends to get quite a bit written about it). Oh and they fitted the extra bottom engine steady I'd bought, and sorted the broken vacuum advance pipe thing and probably a bunch of other stuff.

Summary - Chippy is now back on the road! Hooray!

I have had much fun already driving her to work and back the last couple of days and now have a whole new load of ideas and questions. Hope to get along to a local-ish meet sometime in the future.

I've realised that much as I love the idea of mechanicals I'm not much good at 'em. So if anyone who is, is interested in swapping their time (to work on Chippy) for mine (doing whatever) then I think that would be very good for Chippy (and being honest my pocket - though liquid rewards should always be made as part of these arrangements I feel)