13 - Brakes ( Chris Burdo,  June 7, 2005 )

13.1 - Rear Caliper removal for the S-type ( Frank Benschop,  )

1. Disconnect as much of the brake lines as possible. This makes access better. This caused me the most trouble. It took me over an hour to loosen one connection, the flexible line at the T. All others needed some heat on the workbench.


2. Undo handbrake cable


3. Undo handbrake locktabs and bolts.


4. Rotated the handbrake calipers over the discs to the back and take them out.


5. Remove the bottom plate of the differential to gain some access and 'sight'.


6. Unbolt the caliper bolts. The top bolts from the front, the bottom bolts from the underside and/or front. You need a spanner with narrow sides (Am I clear? I am not refering to the wrench thickness). In general you are able to turn 1/2 a flat (1/12) at a time so you need to turn around the spanner all the time. But we have this all the time, haven't we? Sometimes, I was applying force the the differential casing instead of turning the bolt. It is difficult to see or feel. This calls for a smaller spanner or other angle.


7. Drop the calipers slightly. Pull the top of the caliper through the front opening and remove them through the front

13.2 - Airleak in Servo system ( Peter Smith,  June 17, 2005 )

Get a long piece of heater hose or something similar, put one
end to your ear and hunt around for the leak with the other. 
If you can hear it just standing there you should be able to
locate it more precisely in a few minutes.

Then, if it is rubber hose, take a pair of vise grip pliers and
clamp off the vacuum hose from the manifold.  You can drive and
brake fine without the servo boost and you can adjust your
carburetors in peace and quiet, a deal with the servo later.

As to the servo, if the leak is in a hose, replace that, if it
is in the servo you will have to take it out and get it rebuilt.

There is a diaphragm in the big end of the servo, early models
had a rigid plate with a seal around the edge (leather first, rubber
later) and later models had a flexible rubber piece.  I would
look there first.  The end of the servo screws off, you need special
churchill tool Number (X?X?X) or else a piece of plywood with 3
holes drilled into it to fit over the mounting bolts on the big
end of the servo.  A little penetrating oil and maybe tweaking the
cover will let you get it open without too much trouble.

13.2.1 - Signs of a Fluid Leak in the Servo System ( Sandy Cameron,  October 13, 2003 )

Before you get too serious about a blown head gasket you might investigate
the possibility that the white smoke is brake fluid burning after it got
sucked into the intake manifold through the vacuum line to the brake
booster. This happened to me and I was ready to pull my hair out until I
noticed that the brakes were soft and fluid was disappearing but not leaking
onto the ground. Some one in the group suggested that brake fluid burning
looks a lot like anti freeze. Worth checking out. My brake booster vacuum
chamber and reservoir had about a litre of brake fluid in them altogether.