Hi again,
20 years ago, when I first discovered this problem (how could I miss it?) I was
told that it was "the nature of the beast" so I suffered along. Since I was in
Southern California, I didn't suffer often. Just like a leaky roof, I couldn't
fix it when it was raining, and when it wasn't raining, it wasn't a problem. It
was on my list of things to fix "one of these days." I'm not sure if I'm
relieved or not to find out that it's only my car and not a design defect
because now I wonder what's wrong with it.
There couldn't be a problem with the pads or shoes because I've had quite a few
sets in the car over the past 200K miles--some metallic, some not. Since Kelvin
(and Matt Kulka) suggested that the front brakes could not be applying enough
braking, it dawned on me that I've put fewer sets of pads on the car than
shoes. In fact, I have a spare set of drums that I have turned before replacing
rear shoes, but in 200K miles, I've never needed to turn or replace the rotors.
Yikes!
I did rebuild the calipers and replace the rubber brake lines about ten years
ago. The brakes didn't work any better after that but they've always worked
great, except when it's raining. I promised myself that I'd replace the master
cylinder on principle when it got to be 15 years old. I don't remember if I did
or not, but there's no brake fluid dripping on my shoes and this wouldn't effect
just the front brakes anyway.
The only other possible option is a blockage in the lines to both of the front
brakes. But there is no line that only goes to both of the front wheels!
There's a single line from the master cylinder to the splitter/brake light
switch that feeds the entire car. At the splitter, there are two separate lines
for each front wheel. Since the car has never pulled to one side, both front
lines must be restricted the same amount. I just went out and looked and both
front brake lines look fine. Is it possilbe that the steel lines are corroded
internally? Could the splitter be clogged?
It looks like the next course of action is to disconnect brake lines one by one
and look for diminished flow. If that doesn't work, maybe I'll install an
apportioning valve so I can adjust the percentage pressure to each end. Or
maybe I'll just crimp the back brake line :-\. Hey, *that's* the problem--I've
never had my car towed! ;-)
Thanks for the advice, everyone. You've pointed me in the right direction and
now it's just a matter of ferreting out the problem.
Thanks!
Denise Thorpe
xyzabcde@earthlink.net wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> Now that the '67 B has been upgraded to have two speed wipers, I now intend to
> tackle another safety issue, to whit, when driving in the rain, the brakes get
> wet and stop working. This has happened consistently over the 20 years I've
> owned this car through many brake changes. I've developed the habit of
>waiting
> until no one is behind me and then driving with my left foot on the brake
>pedal
> until the brakes start to grab.
>
> Other cars don't do this so it must be a solveable problem. However, I don't
> know if the problem is that the brakes can get wet or that the water effects
>the
> brakes. I also don't know if this is just my car or if other people have this
> problem. Has anyone else experienced this? If so, do the later brakes ('68
>on)
> have this problem? Or is this common to all B's, maybe all MG's? If so, has
> anyone found a way to solve this problem?
>
> Any and all anecdotes, guesses, suggestions, comments, etc. gratefully
>accepted.
>
> TIA,
> Denise Thorpe
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