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Front Brake Day

With a clear diary and sunny skies I decided that I would tackle my front brakes - the Pagid discs and Girling pads have been taunting me from my workbench for a week now.

Thankfully removing the two 19mm bolts that hold on the caliper was an easy task - probably in part to the overhaul I did on the calipers back in October when I bought that car. What I learned after the first wheel was that it was easier to remove the pads before the caliper was off. This way it was easier to push back the piston using the old brake pad instead of the edge of the new disc.

I'd also like to point out that the Haynes manual is completely useless - when it comes to my 1986 model. It didn't even make mention of the fact that the rotor was behind the hub; and that the hub-rotor assembly should be removed as a whole and then separated. I learned the hard way on the first hub. You have been forewarned and redirected to Clark's Garage for more accurate instructions.

The dirt and muck that had accumulated behind the wheel and on righthand wishbone was incredible.
I gave it a thorough clean with a wire brush, including the rusty strut lowers. While I was in there I applied liberal amounts of DW40 to all the nuts and bolts pending refreshing the bushes as soon as they arrive from Porsche in a day or so. I'd certainly like to get some nice new struts & dampers in there - maybe a bit of a drop too - these units are 24 years old if my service history is anything to go by; there are no receipts for new shocks.

I digress, back to the task at hand - trying to keep the new rotors free of grease & grime necessitated frequent application of clean latex gloves to my hands, other than that the new rotor looked the business fitted even if amongst all the rusty bits. I reckon the dust covers will need replacing next time I'm in here as I found one corner had partly broken off and jammed itself in the caliper!

The new brake pads were a tight squeeze alongside the new rotor - the old ones were well worn down - and I noticed some brake fluid flow out of the master cylinder overflow pipe when pushing back the piston on the second wheel in order to squeeze in the last pad. Obviously the brake fluid had been topped up with the worn pads and the new thicker pads & rotors didn't need so much fluid in the system. That doesn't concern me, as now that the new rotors and pads are in place I can get the brakes bled and fluid refreshed for maximum stopping power.


One important note to make is that the hub axle retaining nut also sets the tension on the wheel bearings . This nut (which looks like a bicycle seat clamp) has an allen head pinch bolt that needs to be tightened up more than I had first thought. I discovered this after I had attached the wheel and realised that there was still some play in the wheel bearing. It turns out that I hadn't tightened up the pinch bolt enough - simple enough to rectify even though it delayed the inevitable cuppa.

With the new rotors and brake pads in place the braking performance is fantastic even at this early stage. It will take a good few miles for them to bed in properly I'm sure, but the results so far are impressive!

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