cliff.b

Just checked & it feels pretty tight to me. What sort play should I be seeing?

Correction, I meant capped the ends of the metal pipework

Ok, before clamping any pipes I have disconnected both of the flexibles to the calipers and capped them with spare bleed nipples. The brake pedal is now as hard as a teenage boy who has just woken up 😁. So I am assuming the MC is ok, the rear brakes are not causing the issue, I don't have any leaks and it must be either the calipers or connection to them. So now to fit the new calipers 👍

I will have a rummage in the garage and see what I can find.

I will have a rummage in the garage and see what I can find.

That's what I was planning to do. I have some very small G clamps so if they are likely to be appropriate I think I will try those, maybe with a bit of packing .

Right, parts have arrived and I plan to look at the car again later but before fitting anything I want to investigate further. I have read about "clamping off" flexible pipes but have never done that myself so wondered what the best way of doing this is/what to use?

Reading all the above, I think that once the brakes are sorted I just need to take it out and see how it feels then experiment with the pressures. Many thanks.

Yes indeed, will need to go through everything I think. Thanks again for your help.

As this car is new to me and I am finding various issues I have just taken the N/S brake caliper off and one of the pistons is seized. Obviously this won't have been helping the braking but can't see why it would affect the pedal travel. Happy to be enlightened, though.

I don't think it's an original colour. During the restoration work it had a "body off" respray so the entire car, inside and out is that colour. I don't think I would have chosen to spray it that colour myself LOL

Hi Johny, thanks for your thoughts that this master cylinder looks like a GMC150 from an MGB. I was just wondering, if I do change the cylinder and go back to the original GMC224, would the push rod from the pedal be the same? Just noticed that the replacement ones say the push rod is not supplied and must re-use the old one, which is OK if it's the same but obviously a problem if it's not.

Many thanks for all the advice. I will investigate further this weekend.

I am replacing the pads as well but there are more serious problems. After getting the engine running I took it out for a road test and was shocked to find almost no braking. First push the pedal went to the floor, several more quick pumps resulted in "gentle retardation" rather than actual braking. So cautiously back home and now working on improving matters.

Well the pedal certainly isn't hard at the moment (lol), despite copious bleeding which is why I'm considering replacing the cylinder. So I can fit the GMC224 instead? If I do that I am also thinking of fitting a servo at the same time, which may raise more questions.

Thanks for your reply. The tyres are all the same width (185's) but the front ones are lower profile.

I have tried posting the pic again. Hopefully will work this time.

Have just bought another Spitfire after a 40 year hiatus. It's a largely restored 1500 but bought as a non runner (Soon resolved). I'm sure I will have many questions and will raise them in the appropriate sections of the forum but I cant see which of those would cover tyres. It has what looks like original rims with brand new 185/70's on the back & 185/60's on the front. Apart from the profile difference, these are far wider than I would have fitted in the past so just looking for any thoughts about their suitability and tyre pressures to use? Any advice greatly appreciated.

Hi, after a gap of 40 years since I last owned a Spitfire (MkIV) I have just bough a mostly restored 1500 as a non runner. Having managed to get it running, I have now discovered that the brakes really don't work very well and amongst other things, I intend to change the master cylinder. However, the one fitted doesn't look like any I can see being sold for a Spit 1500. I have attached a picture. The ones on sale are GMC224 (I think) which looks more like the Clutch cylinder. Any clarification would be greatly appreciated. Brake master cylinder.jfif