THAT Lada Samara - It's now FOAD's

[trigger]

Great job so far!, I love the photo of the seats with Malham Cove in the distance, what a beautiful part of the country, I was there last summer sat on top of that cove with my feet dangling of the edge and eating a sandwich as i'm so rock n roll baby.

[Danblez]

Ruddy hell you aren't hanging about, fingers crossed for the test!

[rml2345]

That's looking miles better than it did. Good luck with the test!

[eddyramrod]

Best of luck.... looking forward to the result-post later.

[KruJoe]

Thank you so much for all the good luck messages! I think they worked:

 

 

It ain't a pass, but as near a damn it! I've never been as happy with a fail!

I'm off out to have a look at this rear brake cylinder, I hope I can fettle it without waiting for parts. Bye for now...

[e287yba]

That's a good result, really .

[CYANIDE STEVE]

Well that's not so bad!

At least it didn't fail on welding

[Cavcraft]

Result!

[Jack_Harpers_Teeth]

Been following this for a good while....that is something so trifling in comparison to how much work and effort has gone into this. So, congratulations!

[boobydoo]

For someone to spend so much time and effort on a Samara is just brilliant. Hat off to you, sir!

[skattrd]

Well done, hopefully shouldn't be too difficult to get that legal again.

[M'coli]

Splendid work, I'm very impressed at this! Good luck with the wheel cylinder, hope it's not a PITA.

[eddyramrod]

Proud of you Joe! This is how cars survive to become classics, by someone doing all this stuff at the "worthless" stage. Well done indeed.

[skoda_fan]

Just like to add my congrats. I greatly admire anyone who is prepared to put in work like this on any car, let alone on one of these. Hear hear to the last post and very well done!!

[michiel]

What a great job - I would probably have turned those seats around to admire the view for hours, ignoring the whole car...

[dollywobbler]

Brilliant. For Services to Shite, you truly deserve a medal.

[SambaS]

Yeah, good going and then some!

[KruJoe]

Right then, today's story in a little more depth...

 

I opened up early this morning and realised I still needed to replace the skirts as well as fit an interior - I needed them for the test to smooth out the frilly bits at the back of the front wings.

 

 

Seats and carpet in, and four self-tappers later, the skirts were back on. We had a job this morning, so dashed of to Malham for that, then a frantic rush to sort out a cover note, then I hit the road about noon, with wooly, noisy brakes. They did clean themselves and become more effective as I went.

 

The car has been a bit reluctant to start, firing on one, then two, then three, then all four, but it has improved through the day.

 

I stopped for petrol in Keighley, and we left a puddle on the forecourt, maybe I overfilled the expansion tank, but by the time Jack was underneath, it had stopped dripping.

 

 

As I pulled in 10 mins early for the test, I tried the squirters - nothing so messed about with connections etc to no avail. Jack found a manky looking fuse under the scuttle, we gave 'em all a wiggle - BINGO, that's good enough for us!

I thought I was gonna have to admit defeat before we'd started.

 

The test was going fine all the way through; Jack was pleased with my welding efforts and the fact everything worked, until the very last test item - rear brakes. The hand brake was acceptable, but no effort on the NSR foot brake. Once I think I have it sorted, I can take it back one afternoon later this week.

 

As I came home past Asda, I notice this in the corner!

 

 

*insert 'dented pride' joke here*

 

 

Glorious!

 

 

Check this out, as I loitered:

 

 

A real, actual rag'n'bone man!

 

 

What a day!

 

As I buzzed back up the Keighley by-pass, I re-slammed my door, but the drafts continued...

 

 

I know the seal is in shreds, but I could see daylight clean though the gap. This would be why:

 

 

What's this called? Stike plate? It is loose on the pillar. I'll nip that up tomorrow.

 

 

On arriving back in Malhamdale, my Father was so impressed, he treated me to an aerosol lid to finish off the back end. PROPER BO!

 

 

After I updated you lot on my FAIL/WIN, I got straight on the blower and ordered a pair of these:

 

 

£3.25 each! They'll be here soon whether I need them or not.

 

I wanted to be straight back out to look behind the drums, but I ended up spending an hour sweeping out the shed and taking pictures of stuff.

 

After tea, I was back to it.

The slave cylinder pistons wouldn't move (tested with the engine running and a brush handle on the pedal).

I was reluctant to remove them or open them up just yet... I gave them a twist and a tap with the hammer -

 

 

-and now they move as much as the off side! Yay!

They're only meant to come out about 1mm each side, aren't they? 'Cos that's what they now do. I'll put it all back together tomorrow afternoon and let you know how it goes.

If I'd have tried that at the test station, it might well have passed. We'll see. It's not the end of the world if I have to wait for my new cylinders to come, but now I'm quite sure I'll be properly legal for Chumley; the next challenge will be arriving there!

[Shep Shepherd]

Bit of a result, that. Hopefully, a pass will be assured in the very near future

 

Love the photos of the rag and bone man- my paternal great grandfather was a 'totter' in Colne. Probably explains my interest in old tat

[KruJoe]

This afternoon's 'progress' is rather less positive than yesterday. I feel like I'm chasing my tail with this brake issue.

 

 

Highly recommended:

'Carspares4u' is the Ebay Shop run by B and C car Parts, 366 Kirkstall Road, Leeds LS4 2HQ, Tel. 0113 2304289

Super service over the phone. I just saw they sent me an air filter last week too.

My new cylinders had already arrived when I came home for lunch, but I tried to make it work without fitting them, I felt I had freed off the old one in situ last night.

 

But while the foot brake did work to some extent, I couldn't get the effort through the cylinder, no matter what I did. I had my father standing on the pedal, and I could still just about turn the wheel by hand. The other wheel was locked up as you'd expect.

 

So I bit the bullet and stuck a new cylinder on. We struggled with that too, because the old bleed nipple was seized and in the way, so that had to go, and we couldn't loosen the union from the back...

 

 

...until set the big boys on the job.

It looks like whoever fitted the copper brake lines had squished the copper inside the union.

 

 

In the end, new one on, and all back together. I had to wind the cylinder onto the union - it wouldn't turn on the pipe. Also we had a real fight to bleed it... in the end we found that with the back wheels in the air, the front/rear balance mechanism wasn't allowing enough effort through to bleed it.

 

 

All re-assembled (several times), but it is behaving exactly like the old cylinder. We could get no more than 1 or 2mm movement from the pistons, and even with them adjusted to the perfect setting, it just isn't enough to give the braking effort we need.

 

The handbrake works fine both sides, and the rubber section or the brake line seems fine, it isn't bulging.

I feel I'm not getting the pressure to the cylinder on this wheel. New or old one, the pressure was not enough to pop the piston out of the cylinder, whereas it is enough to do that on the off side.

I just don't know what to do from here. Any ideas? Starting to fret here...

[dollywobbler]

I had a similar sort of thing on the Maverick. Couldn't get any fluid out. Turned out to be a massive air lock. Eventually sorted it by running the engine to give me servo pressure and really stamping on the brake pedal. I was using a one-man easy bleed kit thing. I also thought at first that it was the auto adjuster restricting the flow, but even with wheels in the air, it should still provide stopping power.

 

However, you might find that a pipe run has been damaged internally. Any flexis on the way to the rear cylinders?

[Timewaster]

I would be suspicious of the rubber brake hose, they can break up inside whilst looking fine on the outside. Just a thought.

[Lankytim]

Could the master cylinder be borked?

 

I think its unlikely to be a collapsed flexi as they usually restrict low pressure fluid returningback to the master cylinder, so the brake sticks on rather than sticks off.

[KruJoe]

It did bleed through just fine, but only after I had the weight supported on the back hubs rather than the axle - this then allowed the swinging arms / axle to rise up into the body, adjusting the front / rear balance valve, allowing fluid to the back brakes.

 

There's one rubber pipe I mentioned, between the balance valve on the body, and the axle. It seems fine, and didn't bulge anywhere as my father stood on the pedal.

 

We did usually have the engine running to keep the servo vacuum...

 

The other back brake works fine, I don't know if the OSR line is completely separate from the NSR line, they both do go through this balance valve. I'll have to count how many outlets there are from the master cylinder...

[e287yba]

Did you free-off and 'set' the auto adjuster? (Presuming there is one, that is.)

 

Strip down, free off, lightly grease so it 'sets' when pulled apart slightly by hand but doesn't 'close up' again when you stop pulling (but it can be reset by moving the moveable part of the mechanism in some particular way), then refit and adjust so the drum is a loose fit works for me on BL Tin (and mix in removing and refitting the brake shoes into this ). I'm sure the basics will be the same for the Samara .

 

Then using the brake on the road soon tightens it up .

[KruJoe]

 

The actuating mechanism in the drum is rairly simple, the auto-adjusting wear compensator is built into each piston in the cylinder. I don't have a picture now, but they were renewed with the new cylinder. I did have to forcably move the pistons out to take up some slack (they wouldn't pop out with the pressure as you'd expect, and as they did at the other side), but still there wasn't enough movement/pressure to make the brakes effective on this wheel...

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Can you clamp the wheel cylinder on the 'good' side so it won't move at all, and see if you're still getting the 1-2mm of movement on the problem side? Can you be sure that you're not 'wasting' a load of travel on the good side's wheel cylinder?

[M'coli]

If you're feeling brave/desperate, you could try swapping the flexi-hoses side-to-side...

[KruJoe]

Can you clamp the wheel cylinder on the 'good' side so it won't move at all, and see if you're still getting the 1-2mm of movement on the problem side? Can you be sure that you're not 'wasting' a load of travel on the good side's wheel cylinder?

Yes, I can try that.

If my faulty side them moves more, what does that mean? And if it doesn't move more?

 

M'coli, I had thought of swapping the flexi's over, and even the cylinders, to see if either is bad. Do many cars use similar unions on the flexis? I miss having a spares car for this (as I had with the Subarus, 205s etc), but I do have several other scrap motors around the place I can raid stuff from.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Can you clamp the wheel cylinder on the 'good' side so it won't move at all, and see if you're still getting the 1-2mm of movement on the problem side? Can you be sure that you're not 'wasting' a load of travel on the good side's wheel cylinder?

Yes, I can try that.

If my faulty side them moves more, what does that mean? And if it doesn't move more?

.

 

If the faulty side then moves more, (no doubt someone will put me right here) I think it could mean that of all the fluid that gets pumped to the back of the car when you press the brakes, you're using more of it than you should do on the 'good' side meaning that theres not enough there to operate the other side. I'm wondering if your lousy brake performance on one side is a result of poor adjustment on the other.