New garage Queen.

[t-tony]

So, after Eagle Eyed Frankie spotted my old Grill pan, here's another long forgotten tool I had the delve into the very bowels of my big yellow tool box to find today. BUT, does anyone know what it is and what it does? @oldcarman @mwpe @Ontiken1 @stevie_a @Boysie

Oh, and don't tell Shirl I had it on the kitchen table!

Tony.

 

[t-tony]

Not much progress today despite Tony bringing more parts to me. I got the new hub seals fitted into the hub bearing carriers this afternoon and showed Tony how the wheel cylinder circlip tool works. These carriers fit onto the end of the axle tube, but first we need to fit the new back plates, unfortunately before I can fully build the back plates ready to bolt onto the axle tube I need new handbrake linkages for inside the drum between the shoes. Before I fitted the hub seals I saw that the previous ones had been replaced non too carefully and I had to file then emery some bruises in the casings as these were stopping the seals from going in cleanly. The first pair were not exactly the correct size and could not be pressed all the way home into the housings, the ones Tony got mid week are great and fit a treat.

Once the seals were in the bearings were next.

Now to the cylinders, this is how it's done.

As you can see the circlip is not "flat" and is curved, this is to make sure it remains secure in it's groove on the cylinder, there's a right and a wrong way to fit these.
The wrong way,

The right way is the other way up. The tool is assembled like this but with the cylinder attached to a back plate.

Again, the wrong way,

The right way up. More to follow this week.

Tony.

 

[t-tony]

Finally making progress on the Midget, we've suffered with incorrect parts supplied and unavailable parts but now things are coming together.
New handbrake levers arrived earlier in the week which meant I could assemble the back plates with shoes, cylinders and adjusters ready to bolt onto the axle tube. The new hand brake levers, apologies for blurred pic.

The adjusters screw into the back plate from the inside and have a bar with a hole which they protrude through which prevents the adjusters working loose and falling out. There are 2 "wedges" that fit against the tapered end of the adjuster pin, as the pin is screwed in the taper forces the wedges out against the shoes adjusting them out to the drum surface, simple but very effective.

The cylinder is fastened to the back plate by a circlip which needs a special tool to fit it. A new cylinder and it ready for fitting,

You need to hold the cylinder in a vice while you fit the circlip,

But you have to have in high enough in the vice to allow the back plate to sit fully down on the cylinder to revealing the circlip groove.

Next assemble the tool to fit the circlip,

You have to make sure to put the opening of the clip in the correct place to allow fitting of the bleed screw. You can now put the hand brake lever into the hole in the back plate and fit it's rubber sealing boot.

Then add the shoes and pull off springs to the back plate.

These were new springs and totally unlike the ones on the car, the dilemma was, which were the correct ones? After some on line shopping and Tony going to another supplier we ended up with what we already had, so after looking on YouTube I discovered that these were correct and I had fitted them top to bottom, still seemed very odd but that was that.
Next was to bolt the assembled back plates onto the axle tube with 4 new bolts and ny-loc nuts.

More problems later.

Tony.

 

[Redline]

That's looking very good Tony. Your attention to detail is going to have those brakes working as good as new.

 

[oldcarman]

Nice work as per the norm bro! Great to see the old style of braking being refurbished and the old Queen going back together, JIM

 

[t-tony]

That's looking very good Tony. Your attention to detail is going to have those brakes working as good as new.

I hope so Ian, that's my aim. Bad thing is on a project like this though is one thing leads to another.

Tony.

 

[Grumps]

Is it nice to be working on something older and more "Heath Robinson" for a change Tony?

 

[t-tony]

More from the shed ...........................

After fitting the back plates onto the axle tube next came the hubs for the wheels.

These are tightened then "locked" by a tab washer which is fitted between the bearing and the nut, the washer is located on the axle by a lug that fits into a hole in the axle tube, then the outer edge is bent over and tapped down to a flat on the nut with a hammer and punch.
With the nut secured you can then fit the half shaft back into to tube, first you have to fit an"O" ring into groove and a paper gasket to seal the oil into the axle.

Another small problem,

So a small delay until Saturday morning for Tony to get some different "O" rings. When I fit this type of gasket I always rubs a thin smear of grease into it, a tip given to me many years ago by Shirl's dad Reg who was in the R.E.M.E. and his logic was that if the parts needed to be separated they would come apart without tearing the gasket. Something which has stood me in good stead for many years. Thanks Reg.
Once the shafts were located back into the diff. and secured with the screw I could fit the drums and adjust the shoes, also bleed the cylinders. Before connecting the handbrake rods from the centre crank I had to lubricate and fre off the cable slack adjuster and back it right off.

Then I could connect the rods. The N/S ones pin hole was ok and had very little wear and was fine with the 1/4" clevis pin, however the O/S one was badly worn, even on the set of used rods that Tony got with the S/H back plates was well worn too, so I drilled the new lever and the old connector rod out to 5/16" and fitted an over size clevis pin. Next adjust the handbrake cable up to 4-5 "clicks" .
I gave the drums a coating of the silver paint which I used on y Z4 discs a few weeks ago.

Just need to fit the tab washers and other two nuts to each side drum and fit the wheels.

Then we'll check the front brakes over too.

Tony.

 

[Mint]

Great work Tony, bet you're enjoying working on a older car

 

[t-tony]

Great work Tony, bet you're enjoying working on a older car

I really am Dave, every thing is so simple (even @hard top could do it!) and there's some satisfaction in keeping a 45 year old car on the road too mate.

Tony.

 

[Mint]

... there's some satisfaction in keeping a 45 year old car on the road too mate...

It'll be a few years before our Zeds are that old though

 

[t-tony]

It'll be a few years before our Zeds are that old though

Very true mate, I doubt I'll be mending them then.

Tony.

 

[hard top]

(even @hard top could do it!)

Do not think so old chap, I have my minions to do that sort of thing I will have you know......

 

[hard top]

Off topic @t-tony but I would rather put a Well Head together, except for the time when our compressors went down, so no air guns.
I had to get this thing out the door ASAP, so I dug out an old mechanical torque unit that I had to hang in the overhead as this thing was bloody heavy.
As you do when fitting a wheel, you go from one bolt (did not want to say 'nuts' in case @miller1098 is reading this) to the one on the opposite side when doing this to torque up evenly.

Took me all bloody day and at the end I was knackered.....

 

[t-tony]

Off topic @t-tony but I would rather put a Well Head together, except for the time when our compressors went down, so no air guns.
I had to get this thing out the door ASAP, so I dug out an old mechanical torque unit that I had to hang in the overhead as this thing was bloody heavy.
As you do when fitting a wheel, you go from one bolt (did not want to say 'nuts' in case @miller1098 is reading this) to the one on the opposite side when doing this to torque up evenly.

Took me all bloody day and at the end I was knackered.....

Equally OT Mike, a bloke once told me how they used hydraulic jacks and rams to turn huge nuts off studs on the boilers at such as West Burton Power station (coal fired at the time) not far from me. Got a couple of nuts off in a shift, can't remember how many he said there were but a lot suffice to say.

Tony.

 

[hard top]

Yeah @t-tony and we used to make it idiot proof and number the bolts with metal marker #1 on one side and #1 on the other side and so on. These things go in a water pit for pressure testing and if you get it wrong, you can start all over again.
Plus you were in for a right bolloxing as you had just fmucked up a set of expensive seals and 'o'rings.

 

[Antm72]

Great work always tricky to locate parts when the vehicle gets older but its all come together nicely

 

[Brian H]

Superb @t-tony, really enjoying this rebuild.

 

[t-tony]

The end is nigh .................

Monday evening and we're on the home straight at last. Having bought some oil for the rear axle I was temporarily defeated as the level/filler plug has been rounded out and so hadn't the tool required at home to remove it. One of the reasons that the oil level is low is because ther diff. pinion oil seal is leaking, but another is that the plug in the N/S hub/half shaft was leaking oil into the spinner, when you removed it, it was "full" of axle oil. Tony got some "core" plugs to repair these.

You fit these with a smear of silicone sealer round them, then when they're located in the recess you give them a sharp smack with a round punch and hammer to spread them into the recess.

On to building the hubs up, had to fit the locking tabs on the rear studs.

Applied some trusty copper grease and fitted the wheels.

Time to turn her round and have a look at the front brakes.

Old style 2 piston callipers, pads held in place only by a Split pin !! Stripped both sides and made sure both pistons in each calliper were free and pushed back easily.

Then rebuilt again with copper grease.

The hub spinners always bother me as it always appears that they're on the wrong side with the thread going the wrong way, but they're not.

And that, as they say, was that. I thoroughly enjoyed doing this for Tony.

Tony.

 

[mwpe]

Great job Tony. bring back memories seeing those old type brakes, drums and two piston discs. I never had any dealings with the Sprite but not that different to the Triumphs which I always had.