Re: Castle Combe Track day & Small fire and brake problems! HELP!

["Ewan Hopkins" <ewanhopkins@hotmail.com>]

If you set the self-adjuster wedge so that it was fully down before 
installing the drum then you'd get exactly the symptoms you described. You 
should always set it fully up, install the drum, then set the adjustment 
once the wheel bearing & nut are installed. If you're not sure, you can 
check without removing the wheel:
tools required: wheel brace & jack
something not too brittle with a pointed end, about 6-8 inches or more, not 
including handle. A longish philips screwdriver if it has a reasonably sharp 
tip, (pozidriv maybe?), and not the shallower ( i.e. generally more useful 
on VWs) tip. Snap-on do a tool whose original purpose I can't remember, but 
it's ideal for doing drum adjustment - it's like an oversized bradawl with a 
blunt tip.
Procedure:
remove one wheel bolt & jack till wheel is off the ground
using a torch to look thru bolt hole turn the wheel until you see the bottom 
of the wedge with spring attached - it's on the left-hand side I think. You 
can then use the pointed implement, levering against the bolt hole, to pop 
the wedge up by hooking into the hole that the spring locates into. You then 
want to lever it back down until there is some resistance to turning by hand 
- it should slacken off with driving. If the wheel is off, there should be a 
fair amount of resistance.
Ideally you then want to do the same with the other side to balance the 
brakes.

Another tip is, if there is a lip on the drum then angle grinding it flat 
makes it easier to install over shoes. Of course, if there's a really big 
lip, it's possibly at its wear limit - if the wheel still spins freely at 
the limit of the wedge adjustment then it's time to change the drum.

HTH,


Ewan.

>From: "Andy Holmes" <scalainj@hotmail.com>
>To: scirocco-l@scirocco.org
>Subject: Castle Combe Track day & Small fire and brake problems! HELP!
>Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2001 10:24:09 +0100
>
>Went to Castle Coombe circuit on Saturday for a bit more track action -
>Superb (piccies to follow)
>
>I had a superb time
>1st time out i drove like a girl/old woman/old man (delete as appropriate)!
>whilst i tried to get the hang of the circuit
>2nd time i went a lot faster as i'd discovered the brakes on my car are
>better than i thought
>3rd time out - The rear brakes cooked and the drivers side drum was smoking
>a lot when we came in. Anyway we got it apart with much burning of hands to
>find that the rear shoes had disintegrated into bits and the inside of the
>drum was burnt along with the wheel cylinder etc so i drove home (120 
>miles)
>without back brakes, a horrendous noise, a loose wheel bearing and about 
>(it
>felt like) 2 foot of brake travel.
>
>Anyway yesterday i replaced the wheel cylinder and shoes on both sides and
>cleaned everything up. However on the drivers side its really tight and had
>a real problem getting the drum back on and now the shoes are rubbing and
>causing massive heat build up. When i had them both apart it all looked
>fine.
>
>Can anyone advise why one side spins freely but the other is rubbing and
>what can i do to solve this problem.
>
>Andy
>
>
>
>
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