Still raining, so another little rainy day job ticked off the list...
Picked up this original Tangye-Shelley Rollalift jack cheap off Facebook, gave it a lick of Chevy orange-red engine paint and satin black for the ‘jack willy’.
New decals from Nicholas Upton of this parish.
Keeping sane during the isolation lockdown
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iain1967s
- 1275 Cooper S
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Re: Keeping sane during the isolation lockdown
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Last edited by iain1967s on Sat May 01, 2021 12:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Peter Laidler
- 1275 Cooper S
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Re: Keeping sane during the isolation lockdown
How do we contact Nicholas Upton of this parish Iain? I need some stickers too. Ain't thought about them since the late 80's but seeing how good they look.............
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iain1967s
- 1275 Cooper S
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Re: Keeping sane during the isolation lockdown
PM to NicholasUpton on this forum, or Facebook Boot2BonnetRestoration
Ref: https://www.facebook.com/Boot2BonnetRes ... 5178213138
Ref: https://www.facebook.com/Boot2BonnetRes ... 5178213138
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iain1967s
- 1275 Cooper S
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Re: Keeping sane during the isolation lockdown
Received the rebuilt and re-sealed servo back from Nick Rogers (min-e-bitz) today.
New one-way valve from Dermott Young (360GTS)
Well pleased with the result
New one-way valve from Dermott Young (360GTS)
Well pleased with the result
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iain1967s
- 1275 Cooper S
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Re: Keeping sane during the isolation lockdown
Servo installed, bled and working well.
[I know the routing is wrong for the brake lines, but it is how the previous owner did it. A project for another time…]
Noticed a small leak from the block core plug near the distributor, hopefully it’ll seal itself.
[I know the routing is wrong for the brake lines, but it is how the previous owner did it. A project for another time…]
Noticed a small leak from the block core plug near the distributor, hopefully it’ll seal itself.
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iain1967s
- 1275 Cooper S
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Re: Keeping sane during the isolation lockdown
500+ miles on the rebuilt mini engine, so finally it is time to ditch the running-in oil and change the oil filter.
A messy job as always, with the “pre-war“ design of Purolator paper replacement filters, not modern spin-on cartridges.
Oh the lengths we go to for being period correct…
A messy job as always, with the “pre-war“ design of Purolator paper replacement filters, not modern spin-on cartridges.
Oh the lengths we go to for being period correct…
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iain1967s
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Re: Keeping sane during the isolation lockdown
Well, Spring is finally here in New England, so time to get the Mini out of storage and see if I can fix the brakes, again...
Regular readers of my trials and tribulations will know that I had the servo professionally refurbished in 2020. Although the servo worked well, having a functioning booster highlighted another problem that the brakes can bind on and not release.
There are two possible causes of this problem. Either the air inlet valve on the servo is sticking, so that the vacuum is not released from the diaphragm; or, the brake master cylinder is not returning to its home position when the pedal is released, leaving residual pressure in the circuit which the booster then detects as pedal pressure and keeps the brakes applied.
Short term, my solution for the 2021 driving season was simple - disconnect and plug the vacuum hose between the inlet manifold and the servo, so that it provides no booster assistance and therefore pedal pressure is directly applied to the wheels. That calls for strong leg muscles, and isn’t much of a fun driving experience...
This problem was the reason that I had to resort to flat-towing my mini to shows last summer. It’s fine for driving around the neighborhood, but not something I would feel confident with questionable brakes on the highway. So a fix was definitely required. I tried bypassing the servo with a length of brake pipe, and the problem ceased. So clearly it was related to the booster and not the master cylinder.
I found out that although the Lockheed boosters are long since out of production, the 1965-69 Alfa Romeo 105 Giulia uses a Bendix servo of the same design but with an aluminum cast body. I purchased one of the Bendix units new from Alfaholics in the UK, for £210 plus shipping back in November, and also a bunch of 10mm male to 3/8” female brake line adaptors off Amazon as I expected I’d need to convert the metric threads in the Italian designed servo body to match the imperial threads used on the mini brake system.
But when I took the servo out of its box today and tried the adaptors, the 10mm male adaptor would not thread into the body
but a 3/8-24 UNF tap ran down the threads no problem by hand. It turns out that even though it is Italian car, the Alfa used a Girling brake system so it has imperial not metric fittings - in fact they are the exact same size as the Lockheed brake servo used on the mini.
So all I actually had to do was chase the vacuum port threads to fit the new 5/8” non-return valve I had purchased from Dermott 360gts, and it all bolted straight up to the existing lines. Even the mounting bolt pattern and orientation matched up exactly. I did replace one of the two brake line fittings (the output end) that was deformed from being over tightened, but no big deal to cut off the pipe and re-form the bend, then double flare a new end on.
Anyway, after the usual hassles of bleeding through the servo, it seems to work just fine. At least the brakes no longer bind on, the problem that the original servo had and which persisted even after the servo was fully rebuilt.
I’ll keep the genuine servo of course - along with the growing pile of worn out original parts - in case I or a future owner want to reinstate its originality. But for right now, I’d rather know I have a safe breaking system even if it’s not 100% cosmetically correct.
Regular readers of my trials and tribulations will know that I had the servo professionally refurbished in 2020. Although the servo worked well, having a functioning booster highlighted another problem that the brakes can bind on and not release.
There are two possible causes of this problem. Either the air inlet valve on the servo is sticking, so that the vacuum is not released from the diaphragm; or, the brake master cylinder is not returning to its home position when the pedal is released, leaving residual pressure in the circuit which the booster then detects as pedal pressure and keeps the brakes applied.
Short term, my solution for the 2021 driving season was simple - disconnect and plug the vacuum hose between the inlet manifold and the servo, so that it provides no booster assistance and therefore pedal pressure is directly applied to the wheels. That calls for strong leg muscles, and isn’t much of a fun driving experience...
This problem was the reason that I had to resort to flat-towing my mini to shows last summer. It’s fine for driving around the neighborhood, but not something I would feel confident with questionable brakes on the highway. So a fix was definitely required. I tried bypassing the servo with a length of brake pipe, and the problem ceased. So clearly it was related to the booster and not the master cylinder.
I found out that although the Lockheed boosters are long since out of production, the 1965-69 Alfa Romeo 105 Giulia uses a Bendix servo of the same design but with an aluminum cast body. I purchased one of the Bendix units new from Alfaholics in the UK, for £210 plus shipping back in November, and also a bunch of 10mm male to 3/8” female brake line adaptors off Amazon as I expected I’d need to convert the metric threads in the Italian designed servo body to match the imperial threads used on the mini brake system.
But when I took the servo out of its box today and tried the adaptors, the 10mm male adaptor would not thread into the body
but a 3/8-24 UNF tap ran down the threads no problem by hand. It turns out that even though it is Italian car, the Alfa used a Girling brake system so it has imperial not metric fittings - in fact they are the exact same size as the Lockheed brake servo used on the mini. So all I actually had to do was chase the vacuum port threads to fit the new 5/8” non-return valve I had purchased from Dermott 360gts, and it all bolted straight up to the existing lines. Even the mounting bolt pattern and orientation matched up exactly. I did replace one of the two brake line fittings (the output end) that was deformed from being over tightened, but no big deal to cut off the pipe and re-form the bend, then double flare a new end on.
Anyway, after the usual hassles of bleeding through the servo, it seems to work just fine. At least the brakes no longer bind on, the problem that the original servo had and which persisted even after the servo was fully rebuilt.
I’ll keep the genuine servo of course - along with the growing pile of worn out original parts - in case I or a future owner want to reinstate its originality. But for right now, I’d rather know I have a safe breaking system even if it’s not 100% cosmetically correct.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.