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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Old chestnut: securing R W cylinders (1500 Midget)

Folks - found an alarming condition of both rear wheel cylinders, yesterday. They were both seized solid.

Obviously I am fitting replacements - but has anybody had any problems after they've drilled/tapped/bolted their RW cylinders onto the backplate? (I'm still not convinced that the 'giant circlip fixing' is actually designed to provide a certain amount of slack that centralises the shoes.) Cheers . . .
Andy Hock

Hi, Andy.

I've had my midget for about 17 years and 24000 miles, and I think I'm on my third set of rear wheel cylinders. All I can say is, make sure they're bled! I've had them leak due to corrosion in the bores, etc.

I guess what I'm saying is, it isn't just you. As for the demon circlips, I used them; but you'll get all sorts of opinions from the folks here, like tapping the roll-pin hole and using a screw, etc.

Cheers,

-:G:-
Gryf Ketcherside

Thank you for your reply, Gryf. I've lost track of how many rear wheel cylinders I've fitted during 34 years of owning my 1500. One of the problems is I haven't done much mileage in the car during the past 2 years - not using a car is bad for its health, everything seizes up! Re. RWC fitment, I've grasped the nettle and have now drilled/tapped and bolted them onto the backplates using M5 bolts. There really was so little play in the cylinders against the backplate when fitted with the horrible circlips that I figure bolting them on can't do too much harm . . . !
Andy Hock

I use the original type of crimped washer and circlip.

Easy to remove (the circlip bends and breaks if it's rusted in) and hard to spend more than 10s fitting its replacement (expand it with circlip-pliers, slip in place and slide to clamp into the recess).

That's the easy way.

Otherwise, use a c-clip or tap-and-bolt if you want to spend a couple of hours or more.

A
Anthony Cutler

Gryf,
I agree with Andy
>>not using a car is bad for its health<<

if your Midget has only done 24,000 miles in 17 years that’s only an average of 117 miles a month or 1,400 miles a year and that’s an average
Nigel Atkins

This thread was discussed on 27/03/2012

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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