Q91CMV - Dutton Legerra ZS Series 2

[Adrian Southgate]

So, MOT sorted by the skin of its teeth, loads to do before tomorrow morning, panic has set it due to a little mishap with the pedal box...

How many of you fitted metal spreader plates between the pedal box and the bulkhead? Here is something for those of you with pinto engines to think about.

I didn't see this coming 8 years ago when I re built it... The holes are supposed to be there... the crack around the edge is not.

Seems the proximity to the manifold has weakened the fibreglass of the tub a little

Well a lot actually :)

A metal spreader plate on the inside would have eased the load on the area and this may not have been quite so severe. This is going to be a fun evening..

[James Doulton]

I've had problems on my non-Dutton with the Mk2 handbrake automatic adjusters which don't seem to work very well. My MOT garage couldn't source replacements and so 'did a bodge' for me. So you might be better off with the Mk1 arrangement with manual adjustment.

[Adrian Southgate]

I changed the brake fluid two weeks ago due to a minor weep on the right caliper. The fluid I put in was Mintex DOT 4 so should be fine. I have a new master and both slave cylinders, new flexi for the rear so the whole system will be drained apart from the front calipers and I used an easibleed which keeps the system under pressure. I will have the pipe flaring tool from the shop to make ends with. I think the rear flexi is inflating but that doesn't account for the lack of pressure on the fronts as the MC is dual piston and biased to suit a 1600 mexico / RS 2000. The wheel cylinders are relatively cheap and even the MC was only £50 (ish). I am tempted to change the full rear setup to mk2 though. I prefer the dual action cylinders to the sliding ones. TRW pads and shoes, with the new hydraulics should sort it, might even change the rear setup to dual flexis, one on each cylinder rather than the series setup the escort came with. If I go out now it will give a little 'feel' until I apply enough force to actuate the brakes , then it sinks like a stone. My back brakes have only ever been 'acceptable' rather than 'excellent' and the handbrake has always been pants if I'm perfectly honest. Not had to do much to them in 9 years other than repair an actuator on the left side but it was always used. Now it sits for ages doing nowt and everything rusts up. My bet is master cylinder bore damage and flexi deterioration. If the half shafts will come out then it's definitely going mk2 though.

[James Doulton]

I suppose it might be moisture in the brake fluid which could cause bubbles to form in the brake callipers when you brake such that when you release the brakes the bubble pushes fluid out of the system and the next time you brake there is nothing. Would that be consistent with the behaviour that you saw? Did it still misbehave when cold and stationary?

[Adrian Southgate]

One thing leads to another..

Two years ago I changed from solid to vented discs, refurbed the calipers and fitted those pretty stainless braided brake lines up front, all looked nice and worked quite well too. Had the third brake line to fit on the rear but sort of got involved with starting the business and whatnot so it got pushed to one side (as you do)

Took the legerra to work on Sunday as the weather promised to hold until after closing time and it was a nice sunny day. On my return journey I seem to have bust something, all a bit weird really...

About five or six miles from home when approaching the top of a motorway slip road I got odd feedback from the brake pedal and then suddenly there was no feedback, foot to the floor, brown trouser moment... lots of down shifting and hand braking later I stop at the junction. try pedal again, all seems fine.. how odd. Set off this time a little slower and at the next braking point tried the brakes, softly on and all seems fine, apply 'braking force' and no pedal... limped it the last few miles working on light pressure and handbrake.

Parked up there are brakes until you apply 'force' at which point it gives up the ghost and sinks to the floor.

I think one of the internal seals has gone in the BMC. No escaped fluid, no liquid on pipes, no signs of bust wheel cylinder seals just no pedal pressure. The BMC is weeping a tiny bit but not enough to cause pedal failure so I took the part number off the BMC to work and ordered a new one. My old one has three outlets, two off side and one underneath. This new one is the same part number but has two nearside and one underneath. Mighty odd.

I am now collecting pipes and connectors to rebuild the entire braking system and possibly change from mk1 to mk2 back plates and brakes in the process. As usual, only breaks just before the MOT and just when the sun comes out 

[Adrian Southgate]

Mopped with farecla, polished with caranuba wax and kept covered under the car port. That was before christmas. Its a bit grubby now so more polishing required but the white patches are much reduced.

[James Doulton]

Wheels and tyres look good, Ade. Have you been polishing the bodywork too?

[Adrian Southgate]

Hopefully not about to do either.

[Adrian Southgate]

I'll just leave this here.

Refurb rims with T1-R's fitted, test drive to work tomorrow. 

[Steve Kerswell]

Think he paid £55 a tyre. Not bad for a performance tyre, he claims they are good up to a point, but ain't they all ?

[Adrian Southgate]

Nankang Steve? some of their performance tyres are supposed to be ok. I had dunlop fast response 195/60/15's on the dotz wheels... still do, so if the T1-R's are pants I can always swap them back on. They were fine down to 15psi but 18psi felt safer. If the T1-R's are pants on the leggy i'll just put them on the Sierra for the summer.