Beck TD, Part 15: Better Brakes, Part 1 of Several

When I blogged about my first drive of the Beck TD on this link, I wrote this: "The brakes right now are truly abysmal. I understand why former owner (and racer) Steve Fox told me that he sold the car because the brakes were so bad." Further investigation led me to understand that the wheel cylinder on the left front was seized, and the one on the right was leaking. After I freed the seized one, it started leaking too. Time to replace a bunch of stuff.


I bought the set of six (each front brake has two wheel cylinders) and replaced the front brakes. I was going to wait for a bit on the rears, because I need to remove the rear axle to install the 3.9 gear set I previously purchased. However, once the fronts were new and tight, the increased hydraulic pressure made the rears start to leak. I replaced them too. All straightforward wrenching, so I didn't even take pictures. Here's one of the rear brakes prior to replacing the cylinder, just to remind you what drum brakes look like under the drum:

While replacing the rear cylinders, I managed to twist one of the fittings off the line. Of course, those fittings are British Standard so no finding replacements at the AutoZone. The line was copper, so it may well be original to the car. Modern replacements are made of a copper-nickel alloy that has much better corrosion resistance. For once, my needs aligned with a 20% sale at Moss Motors, so I ordered a full-car set of pre-cut lines with the correct fittings already attached and flared.

The other big part of the braking system is the mechanism from the pedal through the master cylinder, which energizes the brakes and makes everything work. That was all seriously worn too, with a lot of slop in the brake pedal, and a long-ago modified setup for the clutch. Unlike any modern car, all of that resides under the floorboard under the driver's feet. Here's a picture once I removed the floorboard:

The larger cylinder is the stock MG master cylinder, and it is OLD. For a long time, replacement cylinders have had a drain plug on the back. This could well be the original cylinder, although it surely would have been rebuilt across 65 years. The other cylinder is a Volvo part, which makes sense for the Volvo powertrain of the car.

The Internet calls the disassembly of this stuff one of the most difficult and frustrating jobs on an early MG. However, I found a superb resource in an article by Jeffery Delk at the link http://www.ttalk.info/PedalShaftDelk.htm. I read until I understood what was going on, and thankfully didn't have too much trouble, although it took a couple of hours. Finally I had the entire worn, filthy linkage laid out on the bench:

I had hoped to reuse the master cylinder since it wasn't visibly leaking, but once I got it out and peeled back the rubber boot, I saw it was at least "weeping" and was a rusty mess to boot. I added a new master cylinder to the order, and was happy to see that it was on the 20% sale also.

The part that is such a bear to get out is the shaft upon which the pedals rotate. It has a nearly hidden grease fitting, and the manual doesn't mention lubricating it. Thus, after years it wears out. Mine had the additional indignity of being modified so it would work with the Volvo clutch cylinder. Here's an annotated photo:

1. This spot is where the brake pedal rides, and it has a pretty good step worn into it. The pedal has a bushing also, but replacing the bushing without taking care of the wear on the shaft is no good.

2. The nastiest weld I've ever seen on a vehicle. This wasn't, as I first supposed, a modification to support the Volvo parts. It was a repair to:

3. A bad crack. The next photo will show that from another angle. The crack was opening again, so sooner or later... boom! No clutch!

4. This "engineering" allowed alignment for the pushrod for the Volvo clutch cylinder. Of course, a big cantilever like that put a lot of rotational torque on a linkage, which is why it cracked. Here's another view:

I am going to make the new shaft myself for a couple of reasons. The lesser reason is cost - here's a clip from the Moss site:

But the main reason is to make a shaft that works better! I'll make it long enough to allow proper alignment at the clutch cylinder, and I'll also incorporate a modification suggested in Delk's article: additional lubrication holes, along with radial grooves to help spread the grease better. Here's a photo from his article that makes that clear:

I hope to add a bushing or bearing on the outer end of my lengthened shaft, to add rigidity to the system and better support the far end. I'm also going to modify things to allow a remote reservoir for the brake and clutch fluid, so I don't have to remove stuff and stick my head under the dash to check it.

So, plenty of work to do here. I didn't even mention the bushings in the frame - there are two that locate that shaft. Delk mentions it's a lot easier to do that part if you are in a full restoration and have already removed the body! We'll see if I can manage to avoid that.

Part 2 of this brake story will be about getting this all back together, and then I'll have a brand new stock brake system - one that is "adequate" but not awe-inspiring. Part 3 will be about adding the remote reservoir.

Later on, there will be Part 4, where I use Cor Engelen's design to convert to disc brakes on the front, and if I can figure out how, a Part 5 where I convert to a dual circuit master cylinder for safety, with extra credit if I manage to make them power brakes to boot!

Continue on to Part 16...