67 Morris Moke

[peterbradbury]

Well I have an MOT now, failed first time round with dipped beam/washer jets, hour later and we where sorted.

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With the new head it is rapid! It's pulling up hills in a way its never done before, although does stutter occasionally when on a big uphill run. The electric fan appears to be doing the job, after a decent run out it hasn't lost any water. I think it will be getting plenty of use this week!

[Wally2]

Hi Peter,
Well done! Great that it is going better, I'm in the middle of trying to get mine to stop! On a bit of a look round a couple of weeks ago I noticed that 3 of the 6 wheel cylinders were leaking into the rubber cups, not quite onto the shoes yet. I ordered new cylinders and new braided hoses all round. The hoses on are the rubber type and are dated 2008 so ready for new ones. The cylinders were all renewed in 2013 so a little disappointing that they are failing, but they are not expensive. Mini Spares could only supply one LH front and both rear cylinders, so I went to Moss Brothers for the 2 RH cylinders but they didn't have the other LH one, so I ended up getting one (genuine Lockheed) from E-Bay, similar price to the others. I also bought a little tool to put the circlips on the rear cylinders as they can be a pig to get on. Also bought an easy bleed kit that uses tyre pressure, so much easier than asking the wife to keep pressing the peddle!
Managed to get the rear brakes done today, I'm getting too old to keep getting underneath now, so if the back is willing I'II attempt the front ones tomorrow.
Maybe see you at the Welsh Weekend?
Cheers

[peterbradbury]

Hi Chris,

Yes I'm planning on being in Wales if it goes ahead, certainly need something to look forward too, especially given todays news that a return to work is still no on the horizon for me.

Brakes is luckily one things that's been ok on mine so far, I've easy bleed kit on the shelf for when that task comes around. I've just got some slight play in one front wheel bearing, I hope that a small tighten should deal with that.

Peter

[Nigel(no top)Sykes]

So, while we are talking brakes here’s my tale. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin, in the beginning I put new seals in a new looking master cylinder that I’d had in stock for many years, it seemed ok so I filled the system with silicone brake fluid, bled it........and next morning there was a puddle of brake fluid in the drivers footwell!!! OK point taken, I ordered a new expensive tin master cylinder from minispares to replace it.
I realise that I could have bought a plastic one at half the price (I have one on my Aussie) but I wanted to retain the original look. At the same time I got a new brake setup for the front from mini sport, new backplanes,cylinders,shoes springs etc. It was a pretty good offer they had on at the time.
Anyway, a couple of weeks ago we went out in Hilary’s moke for a test drive and after about 5 miles the brakes seized on with the osf being the main culprit, I solved the problem by opening the bleed valve and we managed to get home.
While looking at the minispares website I noticed that their master cylinders should not be used with silicone brake fluid so that could be the problem (odd though as mines been using it for years with no problems)
Still, to be sure I ordered a new seal kit from minispares and a full set of slave cylinders from mini sport as I’d no guarantee that the ones fitted were the correct diameter, they were ordered on the same day and the cylinders arrived two days later...I’ve just had confirmation of posting from minispares today...a week later!!
In light of the inactivity on the minispares front I flushed out the master cylinder with DOT5.1, fitted the rear cylinders and bled the system twice then left it under pressure overnight with no leaks.
One point, minisport seem to have changed the bleed nipple on the rear cylinders so it’s now the same size as the front ones...simplifies things but you need to drill out the backplate to get it to fit.
Once all that was sorted I moved on to the fronts tonight.........You’d think having bought back plates and slave cylinders from the same supplier everything would be easy peasy. But no,the cylinders wouldn’t fit

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As you can see from the pictures I had to file off part of the backplate to get the bolt holes to line up.
After all this I’ve still to get the drums back on and adjusted, then bleed the system AGAIN before having another test drive......I’m beginning to see the appeal of 7.5” discs now.....but that would mean dealing with those comedians again and right now I just can’t be bothered with them if the performance so far is anything to go by.

[Nigel(no top)Sykes]

Oh, and I’m not going to get into the roll pin positioning on the rears or the retaining spring holes on the fronts

[Wally2]

Spent all day in the heat sorting the front brakes, everything fitted ok , even the Mini sport cylinders on the off side, got to say that they did not look as good a quality as the Lockheed ones from MiniSpares. I then spent most of the afternoon trying to bleed the brakes, using the easybleed kit was pretty good but did not get much fluid flow from the rear brakes. After putting a considerable amount of fluid through I still cannot get good peddle pressure, it goes right down and if pumped comes up a little. Spoke with Graham Thomas who suggests that the pressure regulator at the back might be the problem and to try bleeding them the old fashioned way by slowly pressing the pedal to avoid the valve operating. So that's today's job in the sun! Good luck with yours Nigel.

[Wally2]

Well spent most of the day in the heat, trying to bleed the brakes. They are all done and brakes adjusted but still the pedal is going down too far and the brakes are know where as good as they were, they are slightly better than yesterday but not by much? So is it a fault with some of the new bits I've put on or has the master cylinder developed a fault? I'm at a loss now and will leave it alone for a few days. Any one any ideas?

[Nigel(no top)Sykes]

There are several bore diameters With the slave cylinders. Did you use the correct ones? If you’ve fitted larger bore cylinders then that would give you a greater pedal travel.

[Wally2]

Hi Nigel,
Yes 13/16" bore on the front and 5/8" bore on the rear. Fronts are RH GWC102, LH are GWC103, rears are GWC1101 I did compare old with new as best I could and they seemed to be identical. The 2 RH ones I got from Mini Sport did not have the same 'feel' as the Lockheed ones from Mini Spares and E-Bay so I've just ordered 2 more from the e-bay supplier. When I get them I will change them over and see what effect that has, only thing mabe the seals are on the wrong way round?. If it doesn't sort it, the all I can think of is the master cylinder. The MC and the clutch MC were replaced by Lockheed tin can ones from Mini Spares about 4 years ago, but the clutch one failed last year (internal leak) so I'm wondering if the brake one has gone the same way! only other thing I've not changed this time is the pressure regulator on the back brakes, but as fluid is going through it during bleeding I cannot think what may be wrong?

[Wally2]

Nigel,
Just a thought, did you inform some while ago about Minispares putting out a recall on their brake Master cylinders? Wonder if mine is one of them?

[Nigel(no top)Sykes]

The page address is
recall.920e.co.uk
if you want to check

[Nigel(no top)Sykes]

BTW finished changing the cylinders and bled the system after work tonight. Went for a test drive of about 5 miles and by the time I got home the front near side brake was seized on again...it’s always that one and I don’t know why

[Wally2]

The page address is
recall.920e.co.uk
if you want to check

Hi Nigel,
Thanks for that, the affected master cylinders were from 2018, mine was fitted in 2016 so not part of the recall. I will change the RH cylinders when they arrive, if it doesn't cure the problem it will be onto the Master Cylinder!
Cheers

[peterbradbury]

Well today while out with Moke I experienced a failure to proceed while approaching a junction when the clutch pedal went to the floor and stayed there.

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Upon investigation I discovered a distinct lack of clevis pins...

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I've got no idea how long I've been using it without these in place, but that could have ended in much worse situation. I was reasonably close to home so a quick phone call and I had a couple of clevis pins from the garage and fixed before the truck of shame arrived.

I've been playing with the mixture since the head & air filter change and it's certainly running much smoother.

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Looks maybe a little lean still?

[Nigel(no top)Sykes]

mmmm Clevis pins best job in the world putting them and the split pins back in.