Rear Brakes Rebuild

With new parts delivered I could start rebuilding the rear brakes.

I mentioned before that the rear bearings are in good condition so I won't be replacing them. Before I could rebuild the brakes I needed to put the rear axle and hub back on with new oil seals and gaskets.

Both surfaces of the hub needed a good clean. I used fine wet and dry paper to remove all the old crud.

As part of the preparation I had removed as much of the surface rust from the back plate and then applied a couple of coats of rust converter and then a couple of top coats of black chassis paint. It was now ready to start to install the new parts.

First up was the oil seal and gasket. I made sure the groove was very clean and then put a small amount of oil in the groove to help settle the seal.

Gasket goes on easily.

Then carefully slide the half shaft in the differential and then on to the inner hub mounting bolts. If you have wire wheels like me make sure that you put the correct hub and half shaft in the right end of the axle. Then make sure the screw hole is aligned and then tighten the screw.

Once that is in place I moved on to the wheel cylinder that contains the two pistons that force the brake pads on to the drum. I should point out that I did paint the pistons before putting them back into the cylinder to stop them rusting as they did before.

In order to keep the cylinder in place you have two options. Could can either use a washer and circlip or you can use a clip as I have used. This is partly because a new washer is not currently available from Moss and it needs to be exactly the right width. The clip I used is slightly bent to ensure everything is tight and stops the cylinder moving around.

I have seen some people use a tools to get this clip on but a screwdriver and a little bit of pressure and it clips on well, even if it did scratch the paint, which I tidied up afterwards.

Next up is to put the handbrake arm and new seal in place. Quite easy to do.

Then the pads themselves. This is a fiddley job!

I have to admit that I had two goes at this and it took me a while to try to understand why on one side the pads were reasonably tight and in place and on the other the pads were flopping around all over the place.

It turned out that although the springs looked ok, one wasn't even the right spring and was longer which caused the looseness, but also over time springs lose their strength, so I bought a new set from MGB Hive. 

I still cannot believe that someone had fitted the old pads with this top spring. The braking must have been all over the place.

The best way to show how to correctly fit the pads is to use this diagram:

When I fitted the pads I put the top spring in place first and then slid the pads over the hub and slotted the handbrake arm into the slots as shown below and then set the top of the pads into the cylinder pistons.

You need to make sure you clip the spring around the handbrake arm, which helps to stops vibrations and the brakes squeaking.

The bottom spring is tricky to get on. Although the photos show the pads in place, I actually fitted the bottom spring with the bottom of the pads off the adjuster just behind the hub. This allowed the pads to be closer together and the spring was easier to clip into place. Then you pull the pads back into their slots on the adjuster.

Once that has all been checked and making sure it is all tight you can fit the drums on. 

If like me there is some rubbing when first fitting, you should check the adjuster to make sure it isn't over tightened. But some initial rubbing is normal until you get a chance to drive the car to test the brakes. They should settle in with a few miles. If not you need to check the installation again.

New Parts Arrive!

After a long wait and thanks to my family for some vouchers at Christmas I was able to place my order with Moss for some much needed parts! Big thanks to the guys at Moss for helping me out with a discount!

The majority of these are to help me get the car back on the wheels so I can start preparing it for paint. 

When the boxes arrived it was very exciting and it felt like Christmas all over again. 

Most of the parts were for steering, suspension and front and rear brakes.

Really looking forward to getting these on the Midget!

 

First Round of Paint

To continue with the plan of making the MG Midget a rolling chassis so that I can get it to the paint shop without damaging the work I have already completed I needed to paint some key areas of the chassis. 

The idea is to repeat the process of the underside of the chassis, as in completing the seam sealing on all panel joins and then paint, leaving the main external body for the professionals.

I decided to use a brushable seam sealer that when dry can be sanded and painted over. I have found Granvilles G-Pro product was very easy to apply and dried very quickly. That still didn't help though with the amount of edges that needed to be sealed. I spent ages inside the cockpit and the engine bay making sure the every edge was done. 

Please make sure you follow the safety advice when using this product as it does have a strong glue like smell. I used an filtered face mask when applying.

When you use the brush it is difficult to get a smooth finish and if there are sections that are going to be on show you can use a tool, similar to a bathroom silicone sealer tool to smooth the product down immediately after brushing on. I found this made the sealer last much longer as you can push the product into the joint and along at the same time, whereas with the brush it is harder to force it into the joint or gap. 

After a few hours over a couple of evenings I had completed all the areas.

The next step is to prepare the chassis for its first coat of paint. I decided to get the cockpit ad boot done to avoid any stray black paint on the outer Old English White paint. 

First job was to sand down the primer and any rough dried sealer to provide a key for the new paint to stick to. I used 200 grit sandpaper and gave it a good once over. Then hoovered up all the dust as best I could. Then using a specialist paint cleaning solvent and lint free cloths I sprayed and wiped down all surfaces and allowed to dry. The aim is to remove any grease or dust particles that can affect the paint adhering to the primer and sealer. This should be done each time between coats using finer sand paper each time, before you get to the final top coat.

It does take time to do all this preparation, but what's a couple more hours after 8 years!

Now my thinking is that partly to save some money but also to put the best protection on these inner panels which are prone to rusting I have decided to just use more satin black chassis paint on any panel that is going to be covered by nice new carpet or interior trim panels. I think it turned out quite well so far.

Next up will be the engine bay with nice new Old English White paint.

Steering and Suspension Parts

Over the last few months I have been trying to work my way through all the parts that need to be restored in order for me to get the Midget back to a rolling chassis before it goes to the paint shop.

Not wanting to post for each part I thought I would just share a photo of the main parts that were restorable.

I am not going to pretend this was easy to work through all of these parts. Some of which I had to purchase second hand, like the rear springs. For most of the parts they have cleaned up really well. Others sadly were beyond repair like the rear springs front mounts and one of the front brake dust covers that had been cut by a prior owner. 

In addition to this I have been cleaning all the smaller components, like the nuts and bots. That was fairly soul destroying, but again with the rotary wire wheel brushes most have come up clean and perfectly sound.

Here's just some of the many trays of cleaned up parts. Unfortunately for me there are still many more to work on! Hopefully this work will reduce my shopping basket at my local MG parts supplier!

Brake Callipers

Thought I would share my process of restoring the front brake callipers.

Both callipers were in a bit of a state, so I was unsure of how they would come up.

Fairly sure they were both ceased.

Only one way to find out and that is to take it apart. First off remove and inspect the brake pipes. Both were cracked and need to be replaced.

Need to be careful with this oil, not very nice stuff.

With the callipers secured in the vice remove the two pins.

Then remove the spring clip

The brake pads and anti-squeal shim can now be removed. Both of mine need to be replaced.

Now on to the tricky bit. Removing the pistons. If like me your callipers are not attached to the car then you'll need some way of getting the pistons out with damaging them. If like mine they are ceased and stuck fast then what I did might also work for you.

Mine were stuck fast and on reading on the internet others had suggested using compressed air to force the pistons out. Fortunately I have a small compressor, but you could always ask your local garage. There is a small rubber washer shown in the top left of the photo above that needs to be replaced as well. This seals the joint between both halves of the calliper.

I reconnected the pipe and connected that to my air hose and then turned on the flow. Nothing happened. It took a lot of heat, penetrating fluid and some gentle tapping with a hammer to get them moving. But once they did they shifted very quickly. I used a larger screwdriver to stop them coming out completely as I could only get one moving at a time.

Once removed you can see how badly the corrosion had affected the rubber seals. Fortunately these are replaceable.

First off you need to remove the outer rubber seal

Then the inner rubber seal, which wasn't in bad condition. But may as well replace.

This left the metal housing for the outer seal. This requires just a gentle tap with a screwdriver around the top rim to ease it away the it come off.

Just the clean up left!

That'll do!

Next a degrease and a coat of primer and chassis black. As with all these main parts there are usually plenty of smaller parts that also need inspecting and cleaning or replacing.