10th April 2015, Brake servo and master cylinder upgrade.

Some time ago I bought an uprated servo and master cylinder on Ebay and fitted new seals ready to go on the car, but it has been sitting on the shelf in the garage ever since.  It comprises a bigger servo drum combined with a larger bore master cylinder as fitted to several vehicles like the SD1 Rover and Sherpa vans. The bigger servo drum gives a bit more power to the braking and the larger bore master cylinder moves a bit more brake fluid, which is ideal to go with my Princess 4 pot calipers.  I also took the opportunity to fit the modified brake pressure relief valve that I had previously used on the old car.  This modified valve has the effect of allowing more braking pressure to the rear brakes. I got the valve from Ted Schumacher in the USA and it is considered a bit controversial by some writers but for me it definitely improves the rear braking and reduces front end locking.  

The brakes have always been pretty good on the new car but since I had the parts "in stock" it seemed silly not to use them.  I had also noticed that the paint on the bulkhead below the servo had been damaged by previous brake fluid spillage so it was a chance to tidy that up as well.

Signs of damaged paintwork under the brake servo

With the servo removed it was clear to see the extent of the damaged paint but it was easy to treat the area and paint it.  Most of the damage is hidden under the servo drum so I just used some black Hammerite as I didn't have any of the proper blue colour available.

Servo removed showing problem area

Fitting the new servo was very simple and doing the modified relief valve at the same time means I shouldn't need to disturb the system again.  Bleeding with my Speed Bleeders worked pretty well and gave a decent pedal straight away, but I will do them again in a day or two after giving it time for the air bubbles to settle out.

Uprated servo and relief valve installed

As it was a nice day I also popped the Harris Mann 40th Anniversary stickers on the rear wings.

Yes, I know the lens on the cruise light is cracked and I have some more but not fitted them yet!