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1974 MGB GT - The Mustard (Mit) Mobility Scooter - 6yrs ownership & the end is potentially nigh!


SiC

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I guess some cars tolerate being parked up better than others.

Our Morris Minor was used as a daily car for it's entire life until, due to the previous owner's circumstances, it was parked up for a few years. It needed welding before it was taken out of use, so it was no surprise that hadn't fixed itself. Think the only thing that complained about being dragged back to life was the water pump. Perhaps we were lucky.

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Those disks look a bit iffy to my eye, albeit serviceable.

Honestly, calipers are cheap and poorly maintained ones rust up. I won't start a brake job on an MGB without new calipers on hand, and decide when I have it apart whether or not to replace them. Usually I come down on the replace side, albeit the ones on my own car are still what was on it when I bought it(~15K later) . I actually bought the parts to do it on that car because they were squealing ferociously, but pulled the calipers off, found about 80% pads, and said "I can't change these." I cleaned them up, greased what needed to be greased, and slathered orange goop on the back of the pads, and they've mostly been silent since. Actually, I've just noticed a squeak returning in the past few weeks, so I need to attack them again and see if it's time to change them or if they just need another clean-up.

As for leaking in the footwell-have you(or someone else) circumcised Tom? If not, you need to spend some time shoving a wire into his knob to clean the gunk out, or just take the easy route and take a Sawzall to his knob. Often, wet footwells are from water coming in the fresh air intake and not draining out drain tube(aka Tom's Knob).

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45 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

SiC - How ever many jobs you think yours needs mine needs more and is a tired worn old thing but I am still glad I have got it.

This morning on the drive, waiting for Zel to come and exersize it for me.

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Only because I've been chasing and fighting them for the last 2 years! I was contemplating going through the 51 pages of this thread and figuring out what I have done on this car to date. Completely lost track of exactly what parts this car has required.

Yours does have the Webasto roof - something, as I keep whinging about, I regret not getting one with. Long term this is probably the reason I'll sell this car eventually. First I'm going to get use out of this one during the summer. Would require me spending much more than this one and a lot of time looking, to find another BGT with this much stuff sorted and half decent bodywork. 

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5 minutes ago, SiC said:

Only because I've been chasing and fighting them for the last 2 years! I was contemplating going through the 51 pages of this thread and figuring out what I have done on this car to date. Completely lost track of exactly what parts this car has required.

Yours does have the Webasto roof - something, as I keep whinging about, I regret not getting one with. Long term this is probably the reason I'll sell this car eventually. First I'm going to get use out of this one during the summer. Would require me spending much more than this one and a lot of time looking, to find another BGT with this much stuff sorted and half decent bodywork. 

Would you not just get a Webasto retrofitted?  From what I gather it's quite possible.  

 

https://www.thetrimmingcentre.co.uk/tudor-webasto

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Would you not just get a Webasto retrofitted?  From what I gather it's quite possible.  
 
https://www.thetrimmingcentre.co.uk/tudor-webasto
I didn't know they still were. I thought the full fitting kits were long out of production. May find out how much it'd cost.

However in some ways it seems a shame to cut a big hole in the roof of mine. It'd probably make more sense to sell mine and buy one with a Webasto. Especially as they can split opinion. Some, like me, really like open top motoring. While others really don't.

If I did sell this though, I'd probably end up going for a Spitfire/Midget/Dolly Sprint.
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I sold my BGT because I thought I needed a Roadster, I've had lots of kitcars with rag tops.

I hated the Roadster, wind buffeting, noise, difficulty with hood, leaks, poor view through back window. Bought a hardtop eventually and mostly left it on.

Was also frightened it might fold in half with dodgy castle rails. At least the roof holds them together :)

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I sold my BGT because I thought I needed a Roadster, I've had lots of kitcars with rag tops.
I hated the Roadster, wind buffeting, noise, difficulty with hood, leaks, poor view through back window. Bought a hardtop eventually and mostly left it on.
Was also frightened it might fold in half with dodgy castle rails. At least the roof holds them together


Sounded like you needed a BGT with a Webasto too!
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I'd come down on the side of not cutting a GT with a good roof since there are plenty out there that already have a Webasto or equivalent installed.

I'm also in the "if you want air, buy a roadster" camp. I have an dealer-installed A/C unit sitting that I had planned to install in my roadster, but thought it would be better suited to a GT.

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So I went through all 51 pages of my Autoshite thread and come up with a list of the things that I have done or replaced on this car to date.

Ready for it?

  1. 4x Barum tyres
  2. Fuel flexi hoses
  3. Fuel rigid pipe
  4. Fuel filter
  5. Fuel tank
  6. Fuel tank sender
  7. Fuel pump
  8. Rigid fuel pipe
  9. Reversing light gaskets
  10. New distributor vacuum pipe
  11. Battery
  12. Battery box
  13. Battery clamp
  14. Front and rear brake flexi hoses
  15. Clutch slave cylinder, pushrod and clevis
  16. Engine Earth Strap
  17. Brake Master Cylinder
  18. Brake pushrod pin
  19. Carb rebuild (all rubber seals, jets and fuel needle valve)
  20. Carb throttle plates from poppet to flat
  21. Carb gaskets
  22. Distributor (cheapy ... needs original rebuilding still)
  23. Decent condensor
  24. New coil
  25. Oil + filter change (twice)
  26. Spark plugs (x4)
  27. Oil pressure relief valve and spring
  28. Rocker cover gasket (twice)
  29. Rocker cover rubber washers
  30. Rocker shaft
  31. Oil cap
  32. Front lever dampener refill and seal
  33. Front upper suspension bushes
  34. Lower suspension arms to Polybush
  35. Lower suspension pivots
  36. Anti rollbar bushes
  37. Alternator
  38. Alternator bulb
  39. Pedal rubbers
  40. Drivers seat foam and webbing (Passenger side still needs doing)
  41. Radiator cap
  42. Coolant
  43. Wiper motor brushes
  44. Steering wheel
  45. Fusebox
  46. Radio
  47. Gearstick bush
  48. Gauge 10v regulator
  49. Windscreen wipers
  50. Windscreen wiper arms

Whats left to fit?

  • Clutch master cylinder
  • Front brake rebuild:
     - Front discs + pads
     - Front calipers
  • Rear brake rebuild:
     - Rear slave cylinders
     - Rear shoes
     - Rear shoe adjuster
     - Rear Handbrake levers mechanism

Probably stuff that I have forgotten too and also doesn't include any of the new hardware + small bits I have bought (e.g. the wiper gaskets or sump washers). None of it even seems excessive. Vast majority of which that has been replaced is stuff that was either broken or knackered. Stuff that can be said "Yeah thats just normal wear and tear on an old car"

Most of that list was from either Moss Motors or http://msc.parts - ever wonder how these places stay in business? You know how now. I am not going to even add that list up! I'll leave that to someone else if they so wish.

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Quick look at the length of that list had me thinking... bloody hell. Actually reading it shows all that to be quite reasonable and, as you say, largely wear and tear.

You've saved a fortune by DIY-ing most of it. Can you imagine the labour costs if it all had to be farmed out?

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Well back at around the end of 2017 the parts costs alone were standing at around a grand. I dread to think how many hours I have put into this. Even though a professional would have been quicker, no doubt the labour bill would have been in the many thousands still.

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Something I was told a while back that I thought was true enough to bear repeating...I'm paraphrasing but

"Have you ever wanted to own a class British sports car, but didn't know whether or not you'd enjoy the experience? Try this experiment in any vehicle:

First, wait for a cold and rainy night. Go out for a drive with all of your windows down, the heat turned off, the wipers off, and without any headlights or interior lights. Drive around, and every time you drive through an intersection, throw a $20 bill out the window. It's not quite the same, but it's close enough to give you a feel for what owning one is like."

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20 hours ago, Steve79 said:

I'd love to have done! However house buying fuck ups mean we are back to searching for a house to buy. :|

 

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Box of bits arrived yesterday.
786d3f3340fd52a0a3fdb1a225764daf.jpg
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Including these important extras. Handbrake shoe levers. 
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However being a fool, I've ordered the wrong rear brake rebuild kit. Accidentally ordered the one for the Roadster and pre 1968 GT. Apparently post 1968 the rear cylinders changed sizes. Thus yet another trip to buy replacement cylinders in the correct size...

Hopefully that's the only difference between the kits. Main thing is I wanted to change all the spring, hydraulic parts and adjuster. Springs probably weakened over the years and the rest will likely have had rust attack them.

Not sure what to do with the incorrect cylinders. Cba to send them back as the postage will probably end up nearly the same as what they cost. Plus the hassle of sending back.

Hopefully this weekend, as a minimum, I'll get the handbrake levers replaced. Also that clutch master too.Hopefully this weekend, as a minimum, I'll get the handbrake levers replaced. Also that clutch master changed out too. They're the minimum number of things that need doing before longer journeys can commence. 

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I've never, ever, in over 45 years of fucking about with cars (and buses, bikes etc) replaced the handbrake levers. BFO hammer, wire brush and grease ( and the odd burning torch with buses) has always sorted the problems out.

 

Can understand they'd be easy to clean up and reuse. However (!), I don't have huge amounts of time spare to get jobs done at the moment. Once I get them out I'll need to get it all back together pretty quickly. So buying a replacement to wang straight in, is going to make the job far quicker than 20-30mins each side faffing around cleaning them up. Hence also why buying new cylinders rather than rebuild kit.

 

I hate to use the phrase, as it's very un-British to say it about yourself but: Right now I'm my life, I am cash rich but time poor. I enjoy doing the mechanical work but I have a limited timeframe when I can do it. For the sake of a tenner a side for a new one, it makes it a no brainer.

 

Look at it another way, the quicker I get it done, the more driving I can do.

 

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It's also the advantage of me buying locally at Moss. They have a 12 months return policy on ordered parts. So I can buy stuff just in case it needs changing and if I don't end up using it, I can take it back easily. This makes up for being pricier than many online outlets. Especially as no shipping costs either in buying or returning bits.

Except they didn't have these handbrake levers in stock, so I had to order them with the other bits.

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Rebuilt the rear brakes this evening.

Offside first

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Clamped the brake line to ensure I didn't leak too much fluid everywhere.

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Took shoes and springs off first

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Handbrake boot was in reasonable nick.

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Used this stuff to feed the rubber and give it a bit more life. I originally bought this to clean up and feed the Smart Roadster rubbers to try stop it leaking. Good stuff.

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I liked the fact that it's original OEM with the Lockheed name on it.

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Removed the adjuster and cylinder.

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I do like the fact Moss make the effort to acquire parts that are still imperially sized. Many of the other suppliers are cheaper but use metric bits instead.

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Also bought this nifty tool to help put the circlip on. Wasn't sure if I'd need it, but I bought it on the basis that if they sell it, it must be a massive PIA to do without it.

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Fits on like this once the cylinder is fitted on the back plate.

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Saw this tip elsewhere online to clamp molegrips on the hub. Helps keep the cylinder from falling off until you get the c-clip in.

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Tighten up nut on the tool.

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And it's fitted.

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The adjustor I pulled apart and coated the insides with copper grease. Hopefully the next person here will appreciate that it hasn't seized up. Did the same around the pivot point of the new handbrake lever too.

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Drivers side done.

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Passenger side was much of the same.

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Did get a problem with the tool where the clip didn't slide properly when tightening. Reshaping the clip with pliers and trying again got it all together.

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Passenger side done. Turned out that one side of the brake cylinder had siezed. I did think it was a bit unnecessary to be changing them as it seemed like they were braking ok. Just that the handbrake wasn't fully releasing. Justifies me changing both sides.

b36372170f7dacbb2e0e3691c542aee5.jpg

 

Backs now need bleeding, readjusting and then handbrake resetting up. Currently the handbrake is far too tight to even be able to hook it up. Also plan to rebuild the front brakes too. Again that'll need bleeding, so it'll have all nice new fluid through it once again. Once the fronts are done, the hydraulic brakes system for the most part are all new. Last year it had a new master cylinder, new linkages and new flexis. Obviously this year it's having this rebuild. Haven't touched any of the rigid pipes but these look in good condition. Rears on the axle appear to be copper based.

 

Finally to finish with the hydraulics, that clutch master needs changing out too. Then the fun of bleeding the clutch system! When I did the slave, I did find leaving the slave dangling stopped getting any bubbles trapped.

 

Quite looking forward to see how it drives once all the hydraulics are done. Hopefully it'll be a lot easier to change gear (reverse and second can especially be difficult) and the brakes will be slightly snappier. Especially given the fact that they shouldn't be rubbing, should make it drive better at speed.

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Clean the old cylinders up, replace the seals if necessary, smear with rubber grease, bag them and stick them somewhere safe so that when the new ones inevitably fail in due course you will have forgotten where they are and need to buy new again. Guess how I know this.

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On 5/20/2019 at 2:37 AM, 1970mgb said:

Those disks look a bit iffy to my eye, albeit serviceable.

Honestly, calipers are cheap and poorly maintained ones rust up. I won't start a brake job on an MGB without new calipers on hand, and decide when I have it apart whether or not to replace them. Usually I come down on the replace side, albeit the ones on my own car are still what was on it when I bought it(~15K later) . I actually bought the parts to do it on that car because they were squealing ferociously, but pulled the calipers off, found about 80% pads, and said "I can't change these." I cleaned them up, greased what needed to be greased, and slathered orange goop on the back of the pads, and they've mostly been silent since. Actually, I've just noticed a squeak returning in the past few weeks, so I need to attack them again and see if it's time to change them or if they just need another clean-up.

As for leaking in the footwell-have you(or someone else) circumcised Tom? If not, you need to spend some time shoving a wire into his knob to clean the gunk out, or just take the easy route and take a Sawzall to his knob. Often, wet footwells are from water coming in the fresh air intake and not draining out drain tube(aka Tom's Knob).

Depending how much much a pia it becomes to remove the hub, I may just put new calipers on. However right now I think they're alright after cleaning up and it's tempting to just leave the front for now. 

I cleaned out the tube as one of the first things I did. It's definitely was leaking through the windscreen wiper boxes as the puddle was directly below them and I could see it dripping. 

On 5/23/2019 at 4:13 PM, busmansholiday said:

That's a phrase you never hear in my part of the world.

Often not a good thing either ends of the spectrum! I was looking at the backlog of work that our team needs to do at my new job and I can see quite a few long + late days coming up. :(

I hear that H&S consultants can make a very nice living though!

5 hours ago, somewhatfoolish said:

Clean the old cylinders up, replace the seals if necessary, smear with rubber grease, bag them and stick them somewhere safe so that when the new ones inevitably fail in due course you will have forgotten where they are and need to buy new again. Guess how I know this.

I'll be keeping them anyway as I've kept all the bits, but for £10 a cylinder it doesn't make sense to rebuild them. The nearside one has one piston utterly stuck in its bore. Despite sticking it in a vice and trying to free with a long screwdriver, it ain't budging! Might attack it with a hammer next to see how bad the bore was. That one is going to be a bin job anyway. 

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I hate dealing with brakes. Especially anytime bleeding is involved. Absolute bloody mare of a job today.

 

Bleeding the rears went really easily. Got this new fangled pressurised thing. Basically like a Ezi-bleed but with its own air pump. Notice the wing protector this time. Didn't want more brake fluid spill screwing up the paint - like last time.

f537867a887303562c809a6360d33b15.jpg

 

Handbrake adjustment ended up being a massive pain. With the drums on and adjusted, I could not get the cable loose enough to fit both sides. Even after undoing the handbrake adjuster all the way.

 

Ended up taking the drum off one side and doing the cable up that way. Then backing off the shoe adjustor so I could get the drum back on. Readjusted it all and ended up getting it working on the nearside. Offside doesn't want to lock unless I tighten the handbrake adjuster so tight, that the nearside is locked solid even with the handbrake off. Also requires a good 5 clicks before the car properly holds.

 

Must be doing something wrong.

 

Also went to remove the rear hub. This side has had a cross threaded damaged stud since I've had the car. Got as far as taking the nut off, then thinking better of it and put it all back together for another day. Unfortunately the wheel stud now just spins and won't tighten. Typical considering it's been able to torque up all this time. Another job pushed up on the priority list.

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Next up the front brakes. I was debating not doing this, as the current do work. Even if the discs are manky and the calipers rusty. Decided in the end to just crack on.

 

Near side was first. Grease cap off, nut off, bearings out and then pull the hub off. Came off surprisingly easy.

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Moved hub and disc to bench. Removed the two, put new disc on and tighten all up.

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Fit on car and put together. Packing plenty of grease in. I think this side will need reshiming. Doesn't freely spin and zero play when pulled back and forth.

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Pads had this weird coating on. Not sure what it was and wasn't that well put on. So I scraped it off

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Then put brake grease on.

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Put new caliper on, pads in and reassemble.

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Drivers side was much the same, except the hub wouldn't come off. I ended up whacking the back side of the disc to slowly push the bearings forward. Drivers side bearings feel a tad more graunchy than the other, so may need replacing eventually. They are genuine Timken bearings that proudly say Made in England, so very likely original. Because of them probably being much better quality than any replacement, I put them back in for now and packed heavily with grease.

 

I did end up bending the backplate from the hammer attack, which caught the disc when reassembled. So had to disassemble it all to replace it. The kit did come with replacement backplates but these original ones looked in pretty decent condition, so I didn't intend to replace them.

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Bleeding the fronts didn't go too well. Got them bled ok but then forgot that the fluid line was pressurised. I disconnected it at the master cylinder without thinking. Thankfully the coupling has a shut off valve, so I didn't get a 20psi spray of that. Unfortunately the entire contents of the master cylinder gushed out the top from the pressure release.

 

I tried mopping it up with paper towel as best as I could. But I suspect there maybe still some fluid sitting underneath the master cylinder. I need to get the clutch master replaced very soon, so I'll revisit that area then. Paint underneath there is fucked from years of brake fluid drips and leaks, so I'll clean it all up and give it a good slosh of paint when I'm there next.

 

I topped the reservoir back up and then re-bled the brakes. Only did the front as I was checking for bubbles. Thankfully none came through, so hopefully got away with it.

 

How well does it brake now? Awful!!

It requires a good half pedal of pushing before they properly bite. Full travel does stop the car but doesn't lock the wheels. Feel worse than when I started all this! Oh and it squeals now. Something I can't stand.

 

I think the problems are several reasons. First when I adjusted the rears, I backed it off from fully tight till they didn't run at all when spinning. I think this was too far? I guess they will rub a tad until they bed in properly. Secondly I assume that stuff on the back of the pads was supposed to be something to stop squealing?? I thought the grease stuff is supposed to stop it too though? The stuff I put on was Textar Ceratec, so not complete crap.

 

For now, it got driven up to the garage and put away. This got bought back down to replace it.

 

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Annoyingly the paint got a load of crap on it. No idea how this got on the car. Luckily it washed off.

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The A4 is in for an MOT this week and unfortunately Mrs SiC refuses to drive the BGT. She says she had zero interest in my old cars and doesn't want to drive them. Quite frustrating as I'd like her to give them a go. As the Boxster is modern, she doesn't mind driving that at all. In-fact she quite likes driving that a lot. Like me, she especially likes convertibles. I don't think she ever really forgave me selling her MX5 MK3 she had but then it did paid the fees when we bought our house.

 

Off to the Cotswolds tomorrow. I had hoped to take the BGT, but those brakes need readjusting as they aren't safe at the moment. But as I've spent most of the weekend fiddling with cars, I don't have any time really tomorrow to sort them. Plus I hurt all over from crawling around the car and I don't think I could manage another day.

 

 

 

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A  half pedal push before you get any braking action tells me that the you likely have some air in the system still. That's definitely not normal, although I've driven MGs with brakes like that. It always scares me, esp. as I'm use to the pedal being rock hard once I take up the slack in the linkage. Check it again in a couple of days-look at the M/C first and top it up if needed, and then try the brakes again after a couple of slow pumps-the brakes do sometimes bleed themselves if left alone for a day or two.

I'd guess that you probably do have your rear brakes adjusted too loose, and while this can lead to SOME loss of pedal feeling it won't cause what you've described. For one thing, the volume of fluid in the rear cylinders is tiny compared to that in the front calipers(I drove a Mogie a while back that Midget front disks, and with the pedal on the floor it felt like you weren't accomplishing anything-I suspect it was because the Mogie M/C just doesn't move enough fluid for disks). For another, the rear brakes have only a small contribution to the overall stopping power of the car-I think it's only about 20% on the B as designed(that's also why I'm not a fan of rear disk conversions). In any case, when adjusting the brakes I remove the wheel and go click-by-click until the drum locks. I then back off two clicks(1/2 turn). On my car, there's usually a faint amount of scraping that I can hear more than I can feel, but it will go away in a mile or less. I will caution to not adjust the brakes with the wheel on-I did that one time while the car was up in the air for something else, and had it die for an unrelated issue while out driving it. I can normally push the car by myself on flat ground, but on that occasion I was pushing it along with the friend who was helping me and a police officer who stopped to help, and we were all sweating and grunting for the 1/4 mile or so to get it to a parking lot. Once back to my friend's garage, I backed the adjuster off two more clicks, and everything was fine.

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