Rear brake drums.

Post Mon Dec 09, 2013 3:35 pm

Iirc the owners manual for E3O's suggests driving a couple of hundred yards with the handbrake on, every 3months or so to clean up the discs, does this apply to cars with Drum brakes too?

Post Mon Dec 09, 2013 6:19 pm

No.

The theory is that the rear drum brakes are self adjusting

so the mech takes up the slack and re-sets the adjustment as needed.

The reality is that the mech siezes up and needs freeing off on a regular basis,say every second year or 20k miles.This allows you to adjust the shoes correctly by hand.

It's not difficult,the hard bit is working out just where all the bit's go that fall on the drive when you pull the drum off!

Post Mon Dec 09, 2013 6:27 pm

No, because the rear brake shoes are (if adjusted properly) touching the drums and thus cleaning the contact face whenever you press the brake pedal, just like your front pads and discs. The reason they suggest keeping the handbrake on with rear discs, is that they don't really ever get cleaned up and rust up which leads to endless MOT failures on handbrake efficiency.

And people clamber for rear disc setups on here...

Post Mon Dec 09, 2013 6:40 pm

Cheers chaps, thought that might be the case.
Have a slight problem with my handbrake, will try adjusting it, first.

Post Mon Dec 09, 2013 6:52 pm

gooner1 wrote:Cheers chaps, thought that might be the case.
Have a slight problem with my handbrake, will try adjusting it, first.

Adjust at the brake first,then the cable.

Post Mon Dec 09, 2013 6:55 pm

daimlerman wrote:
gooner1 wrote:Cheers chaps, thought that might be the case.
Have a slight problem with my handbrake, will try adjusting it, first.
Adjust at the brake first,then the cable.

Will do ,Malc. Ta.

Post Tue Dec 10, 2013 8:57 am

In theory the drums are self adjusting.....a metal lever moves in and out and turns an adjusting screw via a rachet mechanism. The fact is that on these old E30s the rachet mechanism gets somewhat blunted and the lever does not grab properly.

So you need to either replace these worn-out parts or manually adjust the mechanism occasionally by removing the drum, screw the racket mechanism out a few clicks, put the drum back on and check that the brake is not binding too much....with the handbrake off obviously.....then adjust the cable at the handbrake

Post Tue Dec 10, 2013 4:24 pm

Once you have drums set up right, all you really need to do is give the shoes and drums a rub with some emery paper and blow them off once a year and give the adjuster a few clicks.

It's only when the cylinders go; some oaf has adjusted them with the cable (main dealers are the usual culprit for this); or they're left to sit for too long (don't leave the handbrake on if the car is going to be parked up for a long time) that you get problems.

Post Tue Dec 10, 2013 5:27 pm

I never leave the handbrake on in any car I own.

Didn't get to do any of the above today, mainly because
the smell of petrol, when I went to start the car, was overpowering.
Turned it off quick and found a very large hole in one of the hoses.
Also noticed this loose Earth strap, never spotted it before

Fixed end is on the battery tray

, and due to it's length I'm assuming
the other end goes to a little bracket on the suspension strut, right?

Post Tue Dec 10, 2013 6:29 pm

Goes to the closest rocker cover nut/stud.

I had some trouble with some perished fuel hoses a while back. The AA man (said his dad had some that had recently broke on his MGB in about the same time frame) and I both believe it due to the ethanol content in the petrol, and poor quality hose.

That contraption over the dizzy and leads is immense, never seen that before.

Post Tue Dec 10, 2013 6:49 pm

Cheers for that cap

Re that contraption, not sure what it is myself tbh.
Had a look through Realoem but can't seem to find it.

Also not in any M10 pics I can find.

http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... e+bay+pics

Seems to be doing whatever it's supposed to do though, so probably
best if I don't "investigate" it too much.