Drum brake specialists North West, West & and South West of London

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Charles Morgan

MB Enthusiast
Joined
Feb 2, 2010
Messages
8,206
Car
Mercedes 250CE W114, Alfa Romeo GT Coupe 3.2 V6
My Allard needs someone to have a good look and sort of its drum brakes, it stops ok but carries on moving very slowly with the foot hard on the brakes and the clutch in.

If anybody knows someone that would be very helpful.
 
Don - yes, I'm a member and checked them first. I'm going to go to the garage that did the engine work as it is not greatly far away but I was keen to find real specialists locally, if they exist, so I can learn all about the braking system so I can learn how to look after them myself (within reason).
 
Hi Charles,
I have a few classics myself Triumph and MG and usually the club scene provides the best knowledge of marque specialists as I am sure you know.
I have seen a few Allards race but not really taken much notice so had a google about. They were built mainly from Ford bits not sure if UK or American with regard to the brakes and as such should be fairly simple hydraulic.
Check the drum is true on a lathe.
Linings fitted correctly especially if they have leading and trailing shoes.
Hydraulics working and sound including Master and slaves.
Adjust till brake binds, press brakes on to ensure shoes are central and recheck.
Just slack off till drums turn freely.
Its an awful lot of power to rely on drums, in one of the articles I read it said that Jaguar had the upper hand on tight racing circuits due to better disc brakes.
Sydney seemed to want to fund his racing by making cars sounds quite a character.
Link to article that you may have seen.
Good old school garages and people are hard to find now a days as most technicians just swap bits and don't repair for cost reasons I guess.
Good luck with the brakes.
Don
http://www.allardj2x.com/pdf/short-history.pdf
 
Take it to Kwik Fit, should be good for a laugh...
 
Take it to Kwik Fit, should be good for a laugh...

Brilliant!

There is one only half a mile away...I did have a bit of a falling out with them though.
 
I am hoping after all I have had to do to this car that I will not need a new set of brakes, that really would be yet another thing I could live without. However, these guys come highly recommended by various Allard Owners Club people - Orson.
 
It turns out to be the master cylinder had failed. This would account for the total absence of braking the last time I took it out, which was somewhat hairy. As it is a standard Lockheed part the damage could be a lot worse, so I'll treat myself to a proper set of radials for it rather than the hideous Chinese taxi tyres it currently has, and hope that that really is the end of all the major things needed on the car (there's surely nothing left anyway!).
 
Brakes now marvellous, just a little less effective than discs. Tyres revolutionised the way the car sits on the road, easier to steer, car looks much better and with the larger profile (the correct one) the gearing is better too. So a delightful run home through Windsor great park feeling like Mr Toad with this wonderful car and a wonderful burbling V8 under the bonnet, full of the joys of spring. Then the gearbox decides that it's going to stop me selecting second and third, the connections seized solid.

So book the recovery truck again. The ability of these things to kick you in the balls...
 

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