Last time I took the car on a longer drive, the noise was getting worse, and I noticed after I returned the rear wheels were hot to the touch.   Too hot to touch.    I realized that my noise had been dragging rear brakes all along.

Both sides were hot the touch, so it wasn’t just one bad caliper.    I went back and checked my maintenance records for the car and saw that the brake hoses were last changed in 2003 when I purchased the car, and one of the hoses changed again about two years after that.  16 years is about all the life that can be expected form these hoses, so I decided to replace them.   I also thought it would make sense to replace the master cylinder, as it is more likely to be causing dragging rear brakes on both sides.     Unlike when I had a similar problem with the Jag, the brakes were not locked hard on, just dragging.

Today, I did some further inspections.   I removed the rear wheels and looked at the condition of the calipers, pads and rotors.

The rotors were still within the spec from the workshop manual.   The hoses looked old, and not particularly flexible.   It was also quite hard to push in one of the pistons to remove the pads, even with caliper disconnected from the brake system.     This led me to remove the caliper for further inspection.

It was the same story on the other side.   Removal of the calipers showed that the heat had made the seal rather crispy.

These calipers can be rebuilt.  I may just replace them as the pistons don’t look great and the heat may have done other damage.   I am not sure if it is to do with the heat, or the 16 years on the car, but I found it almost impossible to remove the flexible hoses.  Even using the flare nut wrenches I managed to damage one of my hard lines.   I have liberally soaked the other side in penetrant to see if that will help when I get the new calipers.

While I was at it, I also replaced the master cylinder.    The brake fluid looked pretty good from a visual inspection.   I was quite surprised how much vile black fluid there was in the rear chamber of the reservoir once I removed it.   This is even after a flush about 18-24 months ago.

Some stained old shirts helped me protect the paintwork from the brake fluid.   In contrast with the flexible hoses in the rear, the lines were easy to remove from the master.   The coolant expansion tank needs to be unscrewed to get the master out. It does not have to move very far, so it does not need to be emptied.

Next steps are to remove and replace the hoses from the rear, fit new calipers to the rear and replace the front hoses while I am at it.   At this point I do not have any indication that the front calipers need to be replaced or rebuilt.  This is covered in part 2 and part 3.

The post 450SLC Dragging rear brakes – part 1 appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

The unit on my car was only around 18 months old, and it was clearly the problem here.    When removed and bench tested, the piston was obviously sticking in the bore.    The theory my mechanic has is that the new parts are susceptible to corrosion, but if they are used every day like a modern car, would probably be OK.   Under irregular use like a classic, they quickly develop these sort of problems.    He has stopped using them on customers cars and now fits rebuilt units.   Same goes for the servo, where a new unit was recently replaced with a rebuilt.

With a rebuilt unit it is possible to ensure the piston and bore have the correct coating to last a long time with irregular use.

This evening I took the car on a longer drive of around 25 miles.   I had almost forgotten how nice the car is to drive when working properly!  I had great pedal feel, the car rolled easily after stops and the engine wasn’t lugging from sticking brakes.   The brakes squealed a bit, probably from the pads being a bit glazed from the sticking.

I will have to drive the car a few more times, but its possible the braking problem is finally solved.   Since I have owned the car I have changed:

• The master cylinder (twice)
• The slave cylinder
• The Servo (twice)
• All the flexible brake hoses
• Rebuilt the front calipers
• Fixed incorrect brake line routing where the rears/fronts were reversed
• Brake light switch (twice)

I will be very happy if I don’t have to attend to the brakes for quite some time on the E-Type.  The last good drive I had in the car was early 2016, so I am looking forward to a few more.

The post Sometimes new parts are not better appeared first on Classic Jalopy.

When I still had the car in the USA, it was worse, the brakes would decide to lock on, and they would get to the point where the car was immobile for 5-6 minutes until they finally decided to release.  I was stuck by the side of the road on quite a few occasions.    At that time, I had a complete E-Type brake overhaul.  The master, servo, fluid, brake light switch etc were all changed.   This made it much better – for a while I thought it had gone away, but a few months later it started happening again just a little and the brake light switch was also staying on again.     The brake light switch was replaced again and an adjustment was made with no other improvement than the brake lights working again.

This time, the problem looks to be solved.   The front brake calipers were rebuilt – they were quite rusty.   In addition, the master cylinder that was put on in 2011 was not working correctly, and flexible lines were replaced.   Not only have I done the full E-Type brake overhaul, I have re-overhauled some items!

While the car was in the shop it also had the top wishbones replaced as they were worn.  I also had the cam oiling tube cleaned, and a few other minor adjustments.   In addition, a Pertronix electric ignition installed.

The result of all this is the car is better in every way.   The brakes have never worked this well.  The electronic ignition makes the car much easier to start and run better too.   The Jag was always a slow starter when cold – not anymore.

The post E-Type brake overhaul appeared first on Classic Jalopy.