Caesar the 1275 E - Diary of minor changes

[Vinay-RS]

Had a fun day today. Well, not entirely. Lots of learning and finding quite a few things that didn't quite work.

So I decided to tackle the brake upgrade today. The first step was changing the rear wheel cylinders for the small diameter ones. People locally have reported that they do 180s if the standard cylinders are not changed.

I did not succeed in completing this simple first task, although, I got quite close and might need some advice on how to fix the current problem.
Firstly, these backplates really need to be spruced up. I think at some point in the future, all of this needs to come off and be cleaned and painted.


Anyone notice something about the new and old wheel cylinders?


Yup, the locating pins don't match. So, I was advised to drill the back plate or the wheel cylinder. I had access to a drill press but not a hand drill, so wheel cylinders it was.

Got them drilled out and fitted. Then faffed around for quite a while with the circlip (because I never bothered to get that Minispares tool for the job). I followed the shifty approach and one of the suggestions under it. Bent a tab, got two in and then used a screwdriver and hammer to get the last one over.

When disassembling, I found that both sets of shoes had been fitted incorrectly. Probably by me (long ago when I tried to work on the brakes myself). Anyway, it looks like they have worn incorrectly and now even with the adjuster all the way back (I rotated it back to slacken the brakes (I think this is correct?)), the drum doesn't slide onto the shoes.

So, I gave up for the night and decided to post this update.

This is where the Mini sleeps tonight. The second picture shows the drum not on properly.



Does anyone have any advice on how to get the drum to clear? I hope there's a solution I can do with basic tools and doesn't involve a brake specialist.