sitting for many years

cdnp6

cdnp6

Member
The plan for this summer is to get the engine in my series one 1970 p6 running, but after getting it to go I need to make it stop.
The car has, until this past winter, been sitting in a heated garage.... approximately 23 years....
For those who have restored cars that haven't moved for many years, what brake system parts you have needed to inspect, rebuild or replace?
 
I'd think you're looking at all the rubber hoses and seals as a minimum with new components if the bores are worn/rusty
You can't be too careful with brakes
 
After 23 years, I would replace the whole lot. I did all the brake pipes on my car in a day easy. It's cheap too, the hoses are simple to. I've not done any work on the rear callipers before but I think they are a little awkward. The fronts are as simple as any ford ones. But again these will need new sills and may need replacing if they have pitted badly. All the disks should be ok with a light skim from the local engineers shop. You may get away with sanding them your self but a skim will give best results and correct any possible warping.

The remote server likes to let it's bore corrode. So new seals will only work for a short time. So get a recondition one they can be gotten for around £130 without needing to send a replacement. I got mind from WINS, very good quality. And you may as well replace the master cylinder, again I would not trust the bore.

In short, do it all. It's not as bad as it sounds. You could do it in a weekend no problem, it's the cost thought. I guess at about £200 for parts + skim of the disks.
 
I agree, replace/rebuild the lot.

Driving along to find you have no radio is annoying, driving along to find you have no brakes is - well, let's not go there.

Richard
 
TwinPlenum3500S said:
I know £200 wont do it..... You wont have a lot of change out of £500 if you buy refurbrd calipers and renew all the braking system.
Click to expand...

Are you sure? Sounds a bit steep. I guess if you send the callipers off but maybe easier and cheaper to get hold of some working ones and replace their seals??? (if the old ones are shot)
 
Been there done that on a NADA V8 , which had been sitting in aheated motor house for 20 years ,and lost my big girls' panties in the process !. NADA brakes are NOT a weekend job . I would rip every thing apart and rebuild or replace it all . The front brakes are a doddle , just expensive . the rest of the system , on a LHDrive car is both expensive and time consuming .
The master cylinder is buried under the steering column . A new Master cylinder and vacuum booster air valve literaly costs its weight in gold ! After all it's am E type Jaguar unit and we all know that jag parts prices are random numbers generated by using the telephone directory .
The remote servo is shoehorned into the RH front wing . Difficult to remove almost impossible to refit
The single hydraluic line and two vacuum hoses pass under the engine and radiator .A real challenge to replace these with the engine in place
The servo is a sod to rebuild .I could find no intelligible explanation of the booster system, I had to devise a sequence to check and prove the booster loop .
The rear callipers !!!, I found an E type Jag rear brakes easier , Nuff said ??You can get away with just removing the rear discs . if you can unbolt them . The internals are filled with frustrating odds and sods which form the works for the " self adjusting parking brakes "
Bleeding the NADA system is a pig of a job since you have to bleed fronts and rears together , and then bleed them again using the brake booster alone .
The Rover manual says you are supposed to renew all rubber seal every TWO years .
Cheers
RVW
 
Thanks all for your insight. However daunting it has become.
I'm not quite put off Dave, but now I know what I'm up against.. Thanks Rip for your advice on our NADA cars.
As we are still knee deep in frozen Canadian sunshine (SNOW), I have plenty of time to ponder sourcing parts and recruiting knowledgeable help.
I'll hopefully update somewhere near the end of the summer on how it all transpires.
 
Hi all,

Sympathies to cdnp6, don't be put off mate. It's not as painful as it sounds. I am an amateur mechanic and pulled the lot out of my dual circuit LHD on a pitched gravel drive using jack stands, brick props and not the finest tool kit I've ever seen. It was cold, too. My car had been sat for 11 years in a disused, seaside cow stable, so things were not at all well.

I spent time cleaning the components carefully, having bought seals kits front and rear plus master and remote servo kits. They all came with diagrams and instructions that I found fairly straightforward to follow but I consulted all my books carefully beforehand for a good mental image. The state of the system depends on the microclimate where the car was stored. Dank, horrible? Dry, fair? The vacuum hoses, diaphragm valve and pipes were never replaced on mine despite all of the above.

You have a supplier locally (check your PM) for brake parts. Member ianp6man in the UK handles NADA cars regularly and might have bits you can use. If mild corrosion/scoring of servo and master bores, you can - like I did - possibly sort it with a cheap honing kit for your drill and then fit the new seals with nothing further. The servo I found was easy enough to understand, overhaul and fit once I spent a while looking at fitment and layout before attacking it with the spanners. In the end I only replaced a relative minimum of perished parts (2006) and my MOT guy remarked (2008) how evenly the brakes read on his meter. Good luck!
 
Hey all.
As promised it's time for an update... finally...
As I have the car into a restoration shop to sort the engine, I also had them tackle the brakes.
So far, front calipers are being rebuilt, front brake hoses are done, all brake lines, save for the line from the stop switch box to the right side front brake were good.
The disks are in for a skim, new lockheed brake servos are on order, and the rear calipers will be sent out to All British Cars in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada for exchange.
I dropped off bearing kits for all wheels today as the shop needed front hub oil seals.
My engine was also expected back from the machine shop today so the rebuild can start in earnest.
This years goal of having the car able to go forward, reverse and then stop may actually be achieved!
 
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