adrian

Update. So after replacing the brake hubs, shoes, springs and snail adjusters with some 'quality' new ones they still were not right! Found some fluid under the rubber boots of the slaves, took them to a different parts dealer who suggested the leaking was caused by alloy castings with steel pistons and the rubber of the seal reacting. So new all steel slaves fitted. Nipples greased with red grease to stop air passing the threads. Following loads more bleeding and a technique involving opening the nipple and winding the snail adjuster in and out - with no pumping - they came up firm and passed the MOT. A miracle has occurred. No logical explanation and I'm not looking forward to doing this again.

So I have now replaced the flexible hoses with braided, don't they look lovely. Brakes still bad. I offered the shoes up to the drums and they looked quite good, could I be looking at a bedding in issue? How can such a simple set up be so difficult to get right!!!

Progress report - I have clamped all the hoses within an inch of the unions, master cylinder end. Employed Samson's legs (both of them at the same time) to press the pedal. Result - The pedal wouldn't move at first, but then gave moving to the half way point. The sort of feel you get when you blow up a balloon. I released the pedal it returned to the top and then was rock solid. I had to remove on of the clamps to get it to move. I have repeated the process with the hoses clamped at the slave end, this time using a very hard push I can floor the pedal. I'm guessing this might indicate one or more faulty hoses?

Height correct. Free play correct. Even with the adjusters right up the pedal is bad. With all the hoses clamped the pedal doesn't move at all, with both fronts off and the back clamped it feels good, clamped the other way its good. With no clamping it's bad, which sort of implies the problem is at the slaves. Are they really that difficult to bleed? Thanks for your pointer to the Series 2 club, looks like a fantastic resource. Adrian

I have fitted a new brake system to a series 2 and now I can't get a decent pedal. I have fitted a new CV master, all new slaves, shoes, copper pipe and hoses. I have bled the system many times using various methods, I'm pretty confident there is no air in the system. 10 litres of fluid used! I am on the third master cylinder - cheap steel, expensive steel and now alloy. I'm on the second set of slaves, cheap first time and now expensive. The shoe return springs are in the right place, checked and rechecked. The brake adjusters have been wound out and backed off two clicks. When I first press the pedal it goes to the floor, then on the second stroke I get a firm pedal half way down like it should be. I'm now into weeks of deliberating, rechecking and hair brained ideas (such as parking the vehicle on a 45 degree slope for two weeks with a stick on the pedal). Has anyone heard of or know of a solution for this problem, or am I missing the obvious? Thanks Adrian