Brakes????

[Blackie_No1]

My car was a 320 auto and is now a 325i, the brakes are stil the 320 setup with drums at the rear, my problem is the pedal travels quite far before i get any effect!!

Now they aint 'spongy' as no matter how much i pump the pedal doesnt get harder. They aint loosing/using fuild as the level is fine. I dont belive its a servo fault as normally when a servo fails the pedal is as hard as a rock with both engine running and not running.

Anyone any ideas????

[smithy318i]

Morning!

I would start off by bleeding the breaks.

[Brianmoooore]

Sounds like the automatic adjusters on the rear drum brakes aren't working. Possibly compounded by some excuse for a grease monkey adjusting the handbrake cables to make the handbrake work.
Time for a rear stripdown to see what's happening. Make sure the handbrake cables are slack with the handbrake off before you put it all back together.

[Blackie_No1]

Yea the handbrake sits quite high in the car rite enuff so that cud be it!! Cheers buddy!!

[Brian28]

If the conversion was auto to manual as well as 320 to 325 and the brakes work well, just excess pedal travel, may be when the pedal itself just set differently when the pedal box swap was done. (This is assuming that it was/has been the same since the conversion and hasn't changed since). There is a bar that runs across low down under the dash that transfers brake pedal input to pressure at the master cylinder, pedal height is adjusted by this bar, threaded at the brake pedal end with a locknut holding it in place.

Cheers
Brian

[Blackie_No1]

Thanks for the help buddy, but would that not just set the hieght of the pedal rather than the contact(?) point of whe the brakes start to come into effect?? They do seem to work ok, just really excessive pedal travel!!!

That and the handbrake is sitting @ roughly 7-8 clicks high.

I havent had a chance yet to rip the drums of due to work!! But am hoping to do it today.

Will keep ya's posted!!

Brian(Blackie)

[jonbuoy]

When i cleaned up the rear brake's on my old E30, free'd the adjuster and then adjusted the handbrake, that made the pedal travel alot less so i would work more toward's that

[Simon13]

the travel is the linkage pedal from the servo to the brake pedal, all RHD e30's suffer from this and it's normal to have 20mm of nothing before u get any feel of the brakes in my experience

[Blackie_No1]

It feels like its going nearly to thew floor b4 anything is happening!! LOL!!, Never got them off yesterday as i was taking the gf shooping in Belfast!! BIG MISTAKE that was!! LOL!!

She had never been to belfast b4!!!

[Blackie_No1]

ok managed to get the passenger side stripped and rebuilt, the automatic adjuster was siezed solid!!! wire brushed it and oiled it and it works great, and has helped the brakes a good bit!!

I cant get the feckin drum of the drivers side as it seems to be siezed to the hub!!

Anyone any suggestions?? I tried the gentle and not so gentle pursueders(hammers) but to no avail!!

[Adam318i]

You sure you didnt leave the handbrake on when trying to take the drum off?

Adam

[Jhonno]

smack it with a mallet is the way..

[jonbuoy]

I cant get the feckin drum of the drivers side as it seems to be siezed to the hub!!

Really does sound like you've left the Handbrake on geese, the drum spins freely with the wheel!

Don't be gentle with the hammer, HIT IT!!
You will find that if one side adjuster was seized the other side usually follows. It's no doubt got a lip on the inside of the drum and that will stop the drum coming off easy. Get your left/right hand (Whether your left or right handed) finger's behind the drum and pull, don't pull to harsh just keep the pressure on, and hit the otherside of the drum on the side whilst pulling on the other side, should come off. If in doubt giv'us a shout.

Cheers,
Jon