Bleeding brakes!

[Rich Sharp]

Afternoon all,
i need your help regarding bleeding brakes on my Vitesse 6. I have replaced both wheel cylinders and brake hoses at the rear and bled the system as per the book but the pedal still has a lot of travel and the handbrake is virtually useless.
I'm probably missing something obvious but at the moment i can't see it!
Thanks in advance
Rich

[Paudman]

Probably the rear shoes require adjustment. Centralise the brake cylinder then adjust the shoes outwards until the drum locks; then slacken off a quarter turn. If the handbrake requires further adjustment even after this it's easily done at the cable end beside the drum.

[Rich Sharp]

That's pretty much what i did and the pedal still feels soft.i found that if i didn't undo the adjuster quite a lot i couldn't even get the drum back on , is this normal?

[JohnD]

994 wrote:

That's pretty much what i did and the pedal still feels soft.i found that if i didn't undo the adjuster quite a lot i couldn't even get the drum back on , is this normal?

A 1600 won't have self adjusters, so your DPO will have screwed in the manual adjuster to compensate for wear.  Your new shoes are that much thicker, so you need to slacken off the adjuster.

Not certain about 1600s, but if you jack up the rear to do this and adjust the handbrake, it will be too tight when the wheels aren't drooping down.   Put axle stands under the rear uprights, so the car is more or less at ride heightbefow you do any more adjusting. Tighten the shoe adjusters as much as poss. then slacken off until the wheel JUST spins clear.  A little scrape-scrape is OK.  Check that the slaves will move in thier slots, and add a mere smear of copperease if not.  

good luck!
John

[spunkymonkey]

994 wrote:

That's pretty much what i did and the pedal still feels soft.i found that if i didn't undo the adjuster quite a lot i couldn't even get the drum back on , is this normal?

That's totally normal but you shouldn't leave them that far back.  Once the drums are back on with the new shoes do the adjusters up again until you can't turn the drum then loosen again until it just turns happily but not enough to get rid of all drag. You shouldn't need to slacken them more than 2 or maybe 3 clicks of the adjuster from fully locked.

The shoes will be rubbing slightly unless you have absolutely perfectly round drums (which you won't have!).  Press the brake pedal hard a couple of times to centralise the shoes then re-check the adjustment (do up till they lock and slacken again 2 - 3 clicks until just free).

Don't be tempted to adjust up on the handbrake cable until you're certain the shoe adjusters are set right

[Rich Sharp]

Thanks Guys for all your advice, as soon as i get a moment i will get out there and sort them!
Watch this space!
Cheers
Rich

[Rich Sharp]

Morning all, just to update you on the brake issue. I'm pleased to say that after a lot of fettling and fiddling about the brakes are now finished with new cylinders and a firm pedal. Thanks for all the advice and help, i'm now back on the road again with a smile and a years ticket!
Cheers
Rich

[100+]

Loving those wheels...

[Rich Sharp]

Thanks, the wheels are reverse rims that took the best part of a year to gather together and then have blasted and painted. I love the look of them and they're different from the usual choices. The picture doesn't do it justice though!