Ferrari Mailing List: Re: A little OT - car projects

[Rick Moseley (ramosel]

Doug,

A few years back we had a buddy at an SCCA event having brake issues like yours.  He called me over and I found a kinked spot in his braided brake line.  Told him to change it... Tried to explain the fluid dynamics, his eyes glazed over and his brain decided a kink in his new expensive line could not possibly be the trouble.  Don't you love it we people ask for your advice then argue with you?!?!  Never happened to you, did it... Nah.    

He and his pals rebuilt the caliper in their hotel room sink, took the rotor to be turned at a little shop in Willows, put new pads on the car and replaced the wheel bearings and seals.   They bled and bled and bled the brakes. After qualifying (way back) he was somewhere between pissed off and crestfallen.   We run a similar car in Historics and keep spares in the race trailer so I grabbed a brake line and headed over to his pit.  Car up on jackstands, front wheel off, 6 guys staring and scratching their heads.  I threw the brake line into the fray... They all jerked around to see who had done it.  I didn't say a word, raised my eyebrows, turned and walked away.   He finished 2nd. 

Engineers trivia for the day:

Fixed your coaster brake did ya?   Who invented the coaster brake?  And what other piece of mechanical hardware is he given botched (but deserved) credit for?

Rick

On Dec 3, 2014, at 7:15 AM, Doug & Terri <dnt [at] dock.net> wrote:

-rick notes “I suspect a stuck left front caliper cylinder but we'll see.”

 

Hmmmm – I found a similar problem.  Turned out to be the rubber flex hose from chassis to caliper.  Like Little Lord Fauntleroy – good on the outside, rotten on the inside.  It had swollen and broken up to the extent that it wouldn’t let the caliper’s normal operating methods retract the caliper piston.  The little square distorted piston rubber bands were not strong enough to overcome the pressure needed to return the pistons.  Ergo – not only one side drag a bit but it had a ‘head start’ when brakes were applied.

 

I hate cars – a lesson learned way to late in the game - - I am committed to my own repairs with known results for the first try - - ever since I ‘fixed’ my Schwinn’s coaster brakes lo those many years ago.

 

Onward

 

DOUG

 

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