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Project: BMW E21.



Your brakes are s**t, because of these discs

9385161431_6e739a75f6_c.jpg


They make me cringe.
 
Those discs will have nothing to do with the problems I've got, Jon.

Rusty discs don't cause the pedal to require pumping to stop the car.

Rob, yes the 323i had a vented disc option. Pointless on mine, I'll upgrade to Brembos/Willwoods if I do the engine swap.
 
Yeah I know, we thought we had done it, but possibly a bleed nipple has been left slightly open.

There are some other things it might be, including the master cylinder, which is a common failure on E21's.
 
I went through 3 second had master cylinders on my build all sold as tested and working and all leaked. If you need to buy a new one try brakes international as they are normally very well priced.
 

Tunst

ClioSport Club Member
  Focus ST225, Focus E
Sounds like a master cylinder issue.. The amount of times iv changed calipers on older cars went to bleed the brakes up an the MC has failed.. Pain in the arse..

Cant wait to see this finished! I may have to venture down your way to a meet when its out and about!

Edit: also those discs will be fine! My mini was standing or 6 years discs looked like that, good blast down the road and they cleaned up fine!
 
I've done some research and yes, as feared it looks 99% likely to be a failed master cylinder.

To add to the confusion, there are 3 M/C's, one main, with 2 ports, and 2 in the boosters, each with just 1 port.

New M/C's from BMW are €476 which I'm not going to be paying, so tonight I'll bleed the brakes again in the vain hope it fixes it. If not, I need to source rebuild kits for the 3 M/C's, rebuild them all and then probably give the calipers a rebuild too.

The braking system on it is a very early design from the 60's. Finding the correct rebuild kits is proving very difficult.

The most annoying thing is that it now looks highly likely that I will miss the BMW festival at Gaydon on 18th August, and Trax is looking possible, but not as hopeful as I was last week.
 
That's the correct one for the main M/C, (it's not as that's for a 320/6, but they do do one for a 316) but that's not the hard bit, it's the booster rebuild kits that I can't seem to find.
 
I'm not sure why I'm so on form today, but surely you get an idea from the exploded diagrams here?

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/partgrp.do?model=2932&mospid=47172&hg=34&fg=25

I hate to sound so negative, but from those pictures, can you tell me which one of those 3 master cylinders is the correct one for my car?

I've narrowed it down to 2, and I'm pretty sure I know which one of those 2 it is.

Plus, they're the main M/C's, not the ones in the 2 boosters, which I might also need (I also might not need them, tbf).

Edit: Your filter was set to a 320i. I have a 316, the braking systems are different.
 

Rob

ClioSport Moderator
LOL! Surely you can tell if you sit infront of the car with the pictures printed out mate? (lazy northerner)

Are these boosters not on real oem?

Take some pics of them if not and post them up?

Booster, number 12 in this?

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=2932&mospid=47172&btnr=34_0096&hg=34&fg=15

FYI, I think this is your master cylinder, as it actually brings up part numbers for you car, the others say "no parts for you car" I put in 1977 e21:

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=2932&mospid=47172&btnr=34_0196&hg=34&fg=25
 
LOL! Surely you can tell if you sit infront of the car with the pictures printed out mate? (lazy northerner)

Are these boosters not on real oem?

Take some pics of them if not and post them up?

The M/C's are housed in a "box" so you can't see any of them.

Same story with the boosters, they're just a big drum looking thing. I can take them apart, but the issue with that is it's a point of no return. Take them apart and I have got to put them back together. Before I do that, I want to check I can actually get the parts I'm going to need.
 

Rob

ClioSport Moderator
Check my edit above, one of the master cylinders comes up with part numbers, whilst the others say "no parts for you car" I think that means only one is correct?
 

Rob

ClioSport Moderator
Sorry to spam to f**k, but summary, (I'd print these three pages, then sit infront of the car and check)

What I think is your MS:

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=2932&mospid=47172&btnr=34_0196&hg=34&fg=25

Your "boosters":

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=2932&mospid=47172&btnr=34_0248&hg=34&fg=25

Booster brackets and a few outer gaskets etc:

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=2932&mospid=47172&btnr=34_0292&hg=34&fg=25

This is me guessing without the car infront of me, but it should help you make in-roads.
 
Yeah, Rob I think it's that M/C too.

They are the boosters, but I'm told there is a smaller M/C inside each of them, and that's what fails.

For now, I'll probably just order a repair kit for the main M/C.
 
BOOM, brakes international do a service kit for the M/C for £36.

They also do a remote vacuum servo service kit, but it says it's not in stock, so there's no price. They also do replacement M/C's, but again, there's no price. I'll give them a ring and see what's what.

Progress is being made.

How difficult would a more modern brake conversion be?

I'm not talking caliper, hub, disc etc.

Pretty tricky. You'd need to make all new mounts for everything, find a conversion that would fit in the bay, get brackets made for the new callipers, make it all work with the current pedals.
 
So some updates.

Tonight was a mixed bag really, but in all it's left me feeling rather fed up with the car and the project as a whole, but more on that later.

The car itself is looking so good, it sits really nicely, and although the heights need a bit of tinkering with, I'm happy for now.

9454884506_992de51c86_c.jpg


9454881614_b663511acd_c.jpg


The rear camber is laughable!

9454879078_65446bf885_c.jpg


Got a fair amount of the interior done over the weekend just gone:

9454889132_31310a5311_c.jpg


9452107451_d00d4dee47_c.jpg


New rev counter, thanks to Jamie who dropped it off one morning, out of the blue :)

9454891332_510898e431_c.jpg


It might be childish, but I love that just the rev counter has a red needle :D

So onto the less happy stuff.

The drivers carpet is drenched, literally full of water. I'm gutted to say the least as I put a lot of time and effort getting the carpet looking nice, and I fear it may be damaged by the water. Hopefully I will be able to dry it out once the leak is fixed, which appears to be coming from the back of the heater box. A new seal should hopefully see things right.

As we know, the brakes are not working, due to a suspected master cylinder failure.

I have managed to source a rebuild kit from a local company, fingers crossed it will sort the issues out.

That said, actually removing the master cylinder has proven tricky. The pushrod on the brake pedal is attached to the master cylinder and I can't figure out how it comes apart. Some research might give me the answer.

The master cylinder can be seen here:

9454877834_96550cb268_c.jpg


Also, my dual booster setup can be seen over on the passenger side:

9452094869_6065aede0f_c.jpg


9454871988_1e86a11ea7_c.jpg


I'm hoping they won't need rebuilding.

So delays, problems and just generally a crappy night on the car. It's walking on thin ice, I'm not far off throwing it in the classifieds at the moment!
 

MatthewR

ClioSport Club Member
Don't do that Eddie, persevere with it and you'll overcome the obstacles. The cars looking brilliant and I'm sure once the niggles are sorted out (however big the seem at the moment) you'll fall back in love with it!
 

Ant1

Brembo! Brembo! Brembo!
ClioSport Club Member
With projects like this you always get frustrated towards the end, keep at it lad, you will regret it if you sell now.

Not only that, this is the only decent thread going on this section at present and if you stop I will have nothing to read!!!
 
Does it need to be OE or would you not mind doing a M/C conversion for a newer, cheaper one?

A few people on the E21 forum have had a go at swapping over to a more modern and readily available system, but it seems to be harder than it sounds.

Fingers crossed the rebuild kit will sort the issues out. If not, I'll look at the brake boosters. If it's not the brake boosters, then I'm all out of ideas.
 

Rob

ClioSport Moderator
Eddie, those lines look pretty damn old, and there seems to be perished rubber everywhere? Surely it's not just going to be the MC? Time to get some brake pipe, some connection fitting kits, some benders, and get handy ;)

Have you considered speaking to f0xy? The lad's practically a boy genius so he may be able to help?
 
Believe it or not, the lines aren't as bad as they look in the pictures.

More than anything, they're filthy. None of the lines appear to be corroded, nor do the connections.

We think we might be able to hear a vacuum leak coming from one of the hoses that assist the boosters, we're not sure.

The various rubber fittings are all in decent enough condition, although yeah, some of them are close to 40 years old.

I'd love to start ripping it all out and rebuilding the entire engine bay, but it won't be ready for Trax if I start doing all that. I'll do that when the weather is a bit pap over winter.
 
So, tonight I managed to remove the brake master cylinder and strip it down.

9462463278_e7095981bf_c.jpg


​Circlip removed (it came off at about Mach 3 tbh, nearly took my eye out)

Pushrod removed:

9459685169_f255827032_c.jpg



First piston removed:

9459687539_c9049e0f91_c.jpg


Second piston removed:

9459689855_700bc45f6a_c.jpg


Rubber inlets and washers removed:

9462471684_516e58405a_c.jpg


All stripped down and ready to be cleaned up and rebuilt:

9459693911_3d4d433911_c.jpg
 


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