B20 brakes

[the.cern]

I am in need of a little assistance please.

The B20 restoration continues apace  and I need to push on with the various mechanical bits where I feel more confident whilst Jim works his magic on the body (an update to the bodywork saga in 'A B20 Story' should follow soon).

The brake master cylinder is the first bit to be tackled and , not surprisingly, it is seized. A quick look on the web obviously comes up with Cavalitto, but with no prices. Another site that came up, of which I have no knowledge, is www.gpshop.it. Does anyone have any experience of this company please?

Are there any other suggestions as to where I might get brake parts? I have to assume that the wheel cylinders will also be US, but don't know whether or not I will get away with new seals or if I will have to buy new cylinders. I expect it will be the latter knowing my luck !! Of course I will also need to have the shoes relined ...........

Any help will be gratefully received.

                                  Andy

[Richard Fridd]

does anyone have experience of classic garage brewster NY re brake components as mentioned elsewhere?

[Sliding Pillar]

The person to contact for Aurelia Brakes is Peter Harding (Basingstoke) 01256 766880. He has a conversion for the master cylinder and has the brake cylinders lined with stainless steel..... You can't cut corners with an Aurelias brakes and if you do it properly you shouldn't have to do it again!  Ade.

[Niels Jonassen]

It is undoubtedly true that stainless steel inserts are a good idea. However, the  brakes on my B20 were in a dreadful state, so I cleaned out the main cylinder plus the wheel cylinders and then honed them all with an ordinary tool fitted to an electric drill. I then fitted new seals all over and renewed the springs that keep the seals in the wheel cylinders apart. It has worked faultlessly and still works - and that was in 1982, and the car has covered aprrox. 100.000 km since. This covers trips to Holland, England, Scotland, Norway, Sweden , Germany, Switzerland and Italy. Incidentally, do not forget the seal in the brake fluid reservoir. If you do not maintain pressure there you will find it difficult to adjust the brakes. And one more point. When nenewing the brake linings do not forget to have the brake drums skimmed or ground to make sure that they are circular and that the new linings fit the radius. Good luck.
Niels Jonassen

[the.cern]

Thank you for the comments, it seems the best way forward for me is to get everything stripped down, see how bad the  problems are and then move on from there.

Its good to know that if things really are bad that the stainless steel liners are readily available, always reassuring to have a fall-back position !!!

Niels, please advise where you obtained the seals, thanks.

Regards to all,

                      Andy

[chriswgawne]

Seals for the wheel cylinders and reservoir are available from Omicron. I have often found that the aluminium wheel cylinders can be carefully honed successfully to re-use with new seals. The biggest problem seems to be if the steel bleed valve is sufficiently corroded in the aluminiukm wheel cylinder to cause it to break. If it breaks it is a bu**er to drill out centrally and to the correct depth because it is so hard and because it sits right down in the wheel cylinder.
As far as the brake master cylinder is concerned, I have never successfully honed a faulty one and I dont want to worry about brakes either failing or sticking on so I fit new ones.  Peter Hardings conversion works well and nowadays I also believe new original type master cylinders are available from the usual sources in Italy (who also sell new wheel cylinders for all series cars as well).
As far as the hydraulic clutch fitted to the later B20s is concerned, slave cylinders are now available although I understand a number of Italian B20 owners have converted back to the mechanical clutch operation because of problems and lack of feel of the hydraulic one.

[Niels Jonassen]

Right, the bleed valves may be a problem. I have successfully heated the cylinder - very carefully - with a gas torch. As aluminium expands more than steel you may often find that after a while you may remove the bleed valve - again, very carefully. I wonder if putting the cylinder into an oven will do the job.
Niels Jonassen