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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Rear Brake and Suspension Time

A leaking brake cylinder has convinced me its time to do some work on the rear suspension and brakes.

I'm going to use poly bushings as I have in the front.
Are the Prothane that Moss has as good as any?

How about cylinders, mine are about 3 or 4 years old. Should I consider re-building or replaceing? Are any brands better than others?

What type of shoes are currently availabe?, Is it worth going to uprated shoues considering the rear brakes are only about 20% of the system.

Phil 'shoeless and clueless'
Phil

Phil,
I have used the prothanes from Moss and they work fine. If I were doing it again, I doubt that I would bother replacing the one in the eye at the fronbt of the leaf spring. No real benefit and a royal pain, especially if the plates are not anxious to be removed.

Don't go cheap on the cylinders, but it probably makes more sense to replace than to rebuild. You will be back trolling the archives when it is time to install those new cylinders, however.

As you note, there isn't much you can do to improve your braking at that end of the car. I have heard that there are som Mini front brake shoes that are wider than Spridget shoes but will fit nicely. I intend to find some next time. Most of the shoes out there seem to be a bit short and you run out of adjustment long before you run out of lining. Some have been known to run a bead or two from the MIG along the edge that goes to the adjusters to improve this situation.
David "just shoeless (most of the time?)" Lieb
David Lieb

Thanks David.
I drilled and tapped the cylinders last time I changed them, E-Clips S*uck!!

<Don't go cheap on the cylinders>
Moss Has a Lockheed cylinder and an aftermarket one, I guess you mean the Lockheed.
Phil
Phil

Last time I checked, if you get the cheap wheel cylinder, then the rebuild kits do not apply and you lose that choice the next time. Is that necessarily a bad thing? Maybe.
David "choices are good" Lieb
David Lieb

Interesting note on the E-clips, gleaned from experience last Friday. It's actually pretty simple to get the tabs over the back of the cylinder. But if you mount them the correct way - that is, with the cupped face toward the backplate - the difficulty arises when you try to press them all the way down the cylinder until they snap into the groove. It's just confounded hard to press on them hard enough to flatten them and drive the tabs home.

I just wanted to mention this, because many postings in the past have expressed difficulty in getting the tabs over the cylinder back. If you place the two end tabs partway down the back of the cylinder, you can then use a small screwdriver to pry the center tab over the opposite edge. It was actually rather easy. But again, pressing the clips all the way to the grooves after that is maddening. I must confess, in the past I've flipped mine the other way around, with the cupped side facing away from the backplate, and fitted them that way. It certainly works... I'd fitted my previous cylinders like that, and had to really maul one of them to remove it Friday. I still don't know where the other half went.

Cheers,

-:G:-
Gryf Ketcherside

why touch the cyls if there's nothing wrong with them? After all it was you guys who gave us 'if it ain't broke don't fix it'
David (davidDOTsmithAT stonesDOTcom)

Mr Smith,
You have gotten it all wrong again. Please take notes this time. The proper quote IS:

"If it ain't broke, fix it til it is!"
David "I am sure he just enjoys working on his brakes..." Lieb
David Lieb

David S,
The impetous for this little projest is the leaking of the drivers side rear wheel cylinder.

I know I can rebuild it, I'm just wondering about new vs rebuild, and any upgrade I might consider.

Looking thru my parts boxes, I came across new top and bottom brake springs and a set of shoes!!

I'm thinking I'll order the one leaking cylinder, prothane bushing set and some misc. brake ajusting bits and have it all back together by August so I can look at the car till September when its cool enough to drive again.

Phil,"whoever said not to get sweat on brake shoes never lived in Florida"
Phil

Phil, I just installed new rear shackle bushings in my midget this spring using the prothane bushings from Moss and it really helped tighten up the rear of the car. Got mine through Tony Barnhill and got a pretty good savings over the Moss catalog price. I agree with David, don't bother with the front bushing unless it's completely trashed, just too much hassle to be worth the effort.
As far as the brakes go, I don't think that you get enough braking action from the rear to make any lining upgrades worth the money. Stick with standard linings and just make sure the adjustment is right on and you'll be in good shape.
Bill Young

Agreed - I fitted polys on rears only... 20% of the effort for 80% of the gain (compared with doing fronts and rears).

A
Anthony Cutler

This thread was discussed on 30/06/2009

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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