Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Plus Four, Supersport & Plus Six (CX & CXV Generation Vehicles) My23 brakes

I bled my brakes a month and a few hundred kilometers after changing the master cylinder. Now it's perfect and I no longer have the feeling of having a sponge under my feet.

I am no expert on anything let alone brakes.. and always happy to be corrected if I am wrong.

Were I suffering poor brakes I might be inclined to crawl underneath and use brake hose clamps to close all the flexible lines and then check pedal travel. The idea of locking them all off is to test all of the kit involved in creating and initially distributing pressure to the system, such as servo ABS etc. Neither the servo or the abs system will operate without the engine running, though brakes should still operate with a dead engine and no ignition, just that it takes more pedal pressure to gain a "reasonable" braking.

Pedal travel with all flexible hoses locked off/clamped should be as good as it ever could be.... With possible issues and the cap removed from the fluid reservoir I would be looking for either signs of bubbles of fluid flow within the reservoir indicating possible master cylinder seal failure allowing fluid or air to escape back past the seal into the reservoir..

By releasing the clamps and comparing pedal travel on each individual brake drum/disc set-up it should be possible to detect if there might be an issue affecting one brake more than the others.

Logic dictates that if brake shoes are not correctly adjusted it can require more pedal travel/fluid displacement to bring the shoes into contact with the drums to them create the braking effect

With discs there is no adjustment to go wrong, however on poorly maintained brakes I have seen seized pistons in a calliper that stop one side of the caliper pushing it`s piston out and the pad being unable to move. in this situation it is possible that the piston(s) on the opposite side of the calliper do operate normally when the pedal is pressed forcing the pad to contact the disc which in turn forces the disc to flex to the extent that it is forced over to make contact with the seized pad on the other side of the calliper.. The effect of this feels not a lot different in relation to pedal pressure and the amount of spring normally associated with applying the brakes, however the brakes are less efficient when out on the road.

Mixing fluid types or thewrong type of fluid can cause all sorts of issues for seals, ABS etc....

Reading your post, George, I would also think that a brake system is not witchcraft.

It is good to know that I am not totally waisting my time typing and that on occasion someone might read any one of my rambles...Thanks Heinz..

I think Barry, or rather Barry's Plus Six holds the key to solving our brake problems. As we now have replacement brake master cylinders and brake booster units we must now look at the brake pads and/or the brake calipers. My guess is the Barry's development car has different brake pads fitted.

What is disappointing is that once MMC realized that the brakes on the development car were superior to their demonstrator that they did not ask WHY? Instead MMC have their dealers and clients all "chasing their tails" to get to the bottom of this problem.
Regards
Kerry

Bad when you have to say that after buying a new £100,000+, 335 hp sports car...

Fortunately we have an excellent Morgan agent in New Zealand, Pearce Bros., and they are determined to put the brakes right under warranty.

Don't get me wrong this is by far the best Morgan I have purchased, but like the first of any new model car there can be teething problems. I would just like to good brakes to stop the car!!
Regards Kerry

The Plus Four only has a front single pot calliper!

Are you satisfied with the brakes on your PlusFour in terms of pedal travel and braking performance p8mog ?

Thanks for the heads up on the Plus Four having only a single pot calliper p8mog

Even in such a situation it is possible that the disc can be deflected under braking in a situation where the rails on which the pad travels to meet the disc become seized with corrosion, which seems unlikely to play any part in the case of any reasonably well maintained Morgan.. ?