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September 29th, 2008

Please pardon our dust while we improve the website over the next few days.  If you need anything please feel free to call 616-301-2888 or email Mike.  Thank you!

Q & A: Brakes

Wednesday March 27th, 2002
Q & A, MGA, MGB, MGC, MG T-Type, Midget
John: Thanks for rebuilding MGA carbs for me this summer and for assisting my mechanic resolving the leak. I've got another question about my MGA (1957). I had a fluid leak in in two of my brake wheel cylinders, so I sent all 6 of them to White Post for resleeving and rebuilding. I had rebuilt the master cylinder about 9 months ago, and it was working fine. The cylinders arrived back from White Post, and I put them on this past weekend, along with a new clutch slave cylinder and all new flexible hoses. I have
bled, and bled, and bled the system, and no more air is coming from the cylinders (I use an Eezi-Bleed). The clutch works fine, but I am getting no brake action. The brake pedal still goes to the floor. Before putting the
front wheel cylinders on, I pulled the piston and dust cap off of one and examined the seals etc, because I understand that different internal seals can be used, depending on manufacturer. The wheel cylinders are not Lockheed. The set up appears to be what is illustrated in the MGA parts
manual and the Moss catalog, except that I noticed that Whitepost did not put an expander (illustration 103, page 25 in new Moss catalog, Part # (180-170) behind the cup that is next to the piston. Consequently, the spring rests directly on the rear of the rubber cup. There is no seal on
the piston. Could my lack of any pressure in the system be a consequence of the missing expander in all 4 brake cylinders up front? I'm not sure what else to try. Any suggestions would be appreciated. My daughter is going
to be driving this car occasionally, and I want these brakes to be perfect.
Thanks as always. Regards, Dennis Werner

Dennis! There are several considerations here with the MGA 1500 Drum/Drum brakes. First, is that the front wheel cylinders are installed correctly. The front cylinder of the front brakes should have the piston pushing DOWN.
The rea... read more