Triumph Spitfire - Brakes Re-Do | Roundtail Restoration 

Good information for people who are looking to do a brake refresh. I'm glad it gave you improved stopping. I had much the same on my TR6, where i had rebuilt the master and slave cylinders. I wasn't happy with the stopping and ended up replacing both with new along with flex lines. Much better stopping now.

Thanks for sharing. Nice that you are trying to keep things original as possible. Love watching you take care of her.

Fantastic video Chris! Very informative and great detail! :)

Good video, informative and great to watch thank you

I've used dot5 for 34yrs on my TR-4, works great.

Silicon fluid might require a few bleeds because very small bubbles can remain in suspension and coalesce into bigger ones giving you a soft pedal or perhaps a pull to one side. Also, as mentioned your parking brake should be adjusted which will take up some extra pedal movement. Good vid though, and glad you’re happy with the improvement!

Thanks, got this job next on my 67 Herald,always had bad brakes and master cylinder gave way and leaked on the firewall,got discs on front but am fitting braided hoses,so fingers crossed

Hi Chris, great video. Lot's of info people should find heloful 👍 Brakes are pretty critica! It's always important to be able to stop, before we go! 😁 When you found some brake fluid around the master cylinder, I wondered if you might have a leak reducing the effectiveness of your brakes? Another common problem happens when brand new brakes aren't burnished initially. Using new pads, rotors, shoes, and drums for hard braking right away will cause them to "glaze" and develop hot spots, which in turn reduces effectiveness and can cause uneven braking. The burnishing process is to use the brakes very lightly at first and to don't keep the pedal fully pressed, such as sitting waiting on a red light. It is a series of repeated brake heat and cooling cycles, gradually increasing the duration and force for the first few dozen miles on the new brakes. EBC (the brand I use) actually recommends avoiding panic stops and hard braking for 500 miles! A couple more comments.... Those new brake hoses will probably make a big difference in the hardness and responsiveness of your brake pedal. The stainless steel braided lines don't expand the way the rubber ones do. Regarding DOT 5 fluid... the important thing is that ALL Dot 3 or 4 needs to be flushed from the system and all rubber parts replaced with new, before converting to DOT 5. If it mixes with 3 or 4, that causes rubber parts to swell up, which can cause brake failure. I know you put the DOT 5 in only after a complete system rebuild, so am sure you have no problem. But someone watching the video might not know. Also, you are correct for Spitfire and most other cars, but not all are bled beginning with the right rear. When you say "farthest from the master cylinder," that is the length of the brake lines... not a direct measurement. On lefthand drive TR4, for example, it is actually the left rear that has the longest run of brake lines and is 1st to be bled. Probably not a big deal, but might end up wasting a lot of fluid trying to start bleeding at the right rear on those. When bleeding with Mityvac, I found it necessary to wrap a little plumbers tape around the threads of the bleed screw to prevent air leaks. This has to be done very carefully to insure that none of the tape gets into the system where it might cause blockage. Even better, but rather expensive at about $10 per wheel, are Speedbleeders. Those replace the existing bleed screws, have a check valve built in to only allow fluid and air to escape, and won't draw any air back in. They work especially well with a Mityvac. My TR4 uses similar spring clips to retain the rear drum slave cylinders. I always make a point of lightly greasing those and the slide portion of cylinder itself, where it mounts in the backing plate. The slave cylinder needs to be able to move and keep itself centered, to apply even pressure (both hydraulic and from the parking brake). I don't know about Spitfire, but on my TR4 those rear brakes are not self adjusting, so need regular attention, too. There is a special small wrench sold, to fit that square adjuster (I believe was originally included in the tool kit). Like you, I use those "hair clips" at the master cylinder. Easier than cotter pins and reusable. However, I only use cotter pins at the rear slave cylinders for the parking brake, just to be safe. (I agree... never reuse cotter pins... although have to admit I've done it out of necessity on very rare occasions like roadside repairs.) Finally, a common problem on hard driven TR4s is front axle flex that pushes the front pads away from the rotors and causes a delayed brake response. Worst case, there can be a really long pedal stroke needed before the brakes start to engage! There are beefier uprated front axles available especially to solve this problem. (Usually not a problem for less aggressive driving. And, I really don't know, may not apply to Spitfire.) P.S. Dot 5 fluid is great because it is safer for paint... and because it is hydrophobic. It doesn't absorb water the way DOT 3 and 4 do. The problem with water in brake systems is it boils when hot, turns to a gas, then the brakes o longer work! On the down side, DOT 5 itself has a much lower boiling point than DOT 3 or 4. So for hard driven cars, fresh DOT 3 or 4 is better. (Just don't get it on the car's paint and refresh it occasionally.)

39:31 BACKING PLATE! lol

Hi Chris. Just a question - did you remember to adjust the rear brakes? or did it get lost in editing the video. Last year I also switched over to DOT 5 because when renovating the brakes i hadt to buy new pistons for the calipers, they where quite pitted. No problems so far. Anyway this winters jobs on the car included renovation if the propshafts (thanks for the video regarding the 40 small annoying rollers) Also a change of diff. from a 4.11:1 to a 3.27:1 that has lowered the rews. when crusing. I also fund quite a lot of rust between the layers on the leafspring, it was a dirty job cleaning that out. And even the trunions in the rear where shot. But all in all it had been a great improvement on how the car is handling, really enjoying to drive it now. Cheers.

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