rover mk 1 v8 brakes

[garethp6]

hey does any 1 have a v8 with gd brakes. on mine they work but not the way i would like them to work you hit the brake pedal and it slows but not very well if i touch it a bit more then it comes to a stop there is just no steady stoping on it. i have put brand new brake calipers on the front plus had the servo recon and any 1 help me out on this. my friends rover is the same so dont know if it the set up on the v8 my 2200 brake are great you can feel them working all the time just not on my v8 can any 1 help me out

 

[SydneyRoverP6B]

Hello Gareth,

From having been driving my P6B for the past 23 years, I can sadly testify to having had my fair share of brake problems,..pedal going to the floor with no braking at all :shock: :shock: :shock: and more than once I might add. Leaking rear calipers, so soft pedal, :cry: not to mention brakes sticking :cry: , brakes locked on :evil: , and of course the pedal that pushes back at you when you are trying not to destroy the car in front of you :twisted:

In answer to your question,...usually once the booster has been overhauled, the brakes tend to feel a bit wooden, lifeless pedal, not too responsive. Then as the air control piston begins to free up in it's bore, the pedal will feel more lively and the breaks more responsive. This may take a number of weeks or quite some months or more depending on how much you drive and what kind of traffic you encounter.

How long ago was the booster overhauled?

Brake pad material can also play its part. What brand and composition of front pads are you running?

Hope this helps,
Ron.

 

[garethp6]

hi the brake have all been done just over a year this has really got me thinking but i cant work it out in the summer it is out most week ends i remember my dad saying when he used to use it every day the brake were allways like that

 

[keanej]

My brakes work as good as any modern car, gentle breaking, medium, heavy and emergency all work fine and I can certainly lock the front wheels if I want to.

Check the pads aren't sticking in the calipers

Check the vacumm hose from the inlet manifold is in good condition ( I replaced one on my P4 a few years ago and from the difference can only assume the servo never had any assistance before that )

People talk about the flexible hose joints corroding and blocking the flow of fluid, how easily did they bleed when you changed the calipers ?

Otherwise I would be tempted to get the servo checked out, even new stock can be faulty. A brake reconditioning place should be able to measure the boost capacity

 

[garethp6]

yea when we bled the system it was all ok with no probs my m8 v8 same age car has the same prob but mine are a bit better then his they do lock up but there is not steading braking if you know wot i mean none of the brake are not sticking it allways rolls out of the garage so got no prob there just been woudring if it just the mk1 v8 set up

 

[sdibbers]

Hi Gareth,

Get under the rear of the car and check that the rear calipers are self adjusting correctly. They should not have any real slop in the 'swing' of the caliper. I had a similar feel with my car, once I had freed off the screw piston that acts directly on the pad, things were much better. If your hand brake is okay but not great, that would point to the same thing.

Worth a try. After a while I got to liking living under the rear axle. No one finds me there and I can just fall asleep

 

[campingstoveman]

Gareth,

Take it to a local garage and ask them to test the wheels on the rolling road, that will show up which wheels are doing less work. It certainly highlighted the rear brakes on my V8 MK1. After a complete rebuild including new caliper seals and unseizing one of the pivot bolts the difference was noticable.
Dont rely on the Auto adjusters, when I put my brakes back together the handbrake only adjusted the Auto adjust so far, I had to get underneath and remove the outer pad and operate the caliper lever manually,trying the pad ever so often until I had minimal clearance with no binding to get it to work well.

Martin P

 

[sdibbers]

Don't rely on the Auto adjusters, when I put my brakes back together the handbrake only adjusted the Auto adjust so far, I had to get underneath and remove the outer pad and operate the caliper lever manually,trying the pad ever so often until I had minimal clearance with no binding to get it to work well.

You can adjust the rear brakes by removing the caliper cover (which also gives you a chance to check for leaks) and winding the serrated head around. A little easier than removing the pad and turning the lever etc. The threads in the piston should be free moving. You can could try cleaning them up off the unit, and lubing with some light oil such as 3-in-1. The other item that can cause poor performance with the adjusters is the pawl inside the caliper. This is a sheet spring steel part that sits on the 'see-saw' lever between the hydraulic piston and the threaded piston. If the tooth of the pawl gets worn and rounded it won't be able to get a purchase on the serrated head.

But I would check the free movement of the threaded piston first.

Cheers,

Steven

 

[arthuy]

Gareth,

So you have new calipers on the front and a new servo. Assuming that they are ok i.e with no corrosion on the bores from being stored.

I wouldn't go taking the rears apart in situ as you will just skin you knuckles and swear a lot.

What I would do is jack the car up and put it on axle stands. Get a assistant to apply brakes as you go round each wheel in turn, just rotate them as the pressure is gently applied. compare the resistance with the location of the pedal. so if the front wheel is solid with the pedal half in but the other needs the pedal to be on the floor etc. Also look for and drag without the brakes being applied. If you don't have 4 axle stands you can do the front then the rear in turn.

When you fitted new hoses did you fit a set of 4? often one of the rear hoses get over looked as it is almost impossible to replace without removing the brakes from the diff.

I drove a V8 reccently which had a full brake overhaul. The brakes at the rear had not adjusted up yet which didn't help but what concerned me was that when you pressed down on the pedal it felt like it was full on but then you had to push harder again to to get the car to actually stop. I think that this was down to the master cylinder (which was new) sticking.

My first thoughts were that you had a vacum problem. Does it feel like their is little no assistance when you brake? If you rolled the car with the engine off and tried to stop the car how does that compare to when you are driving? does it feel similar? Make sure that the vacum hose and valves are clear and working.

Don't rule out the master cylinder either, they live very close to the exhaust which is why they have a heat shield.

Did you change the discs? I have added a picture to show how a seize piston car damage a disc.

Good luck
Colin