Time to rebuild the brakes, I guess...

**Peter** · #1 (**permalink**) 09-13-2009, 01:12 PM

On my '67 Spider, the passenger side front brake had started making a noise, just like it was dragging a little under speed. It would go away in turns, which did not make sense to me. Took the wheels off , and tried to feel for wobble of the hub...it all felt tight. But the discs look bad, many deep grooves. And the wear pattern of the passenger side outer pad is the weirdest I have ever seen, see the picture.....Also, I see rust on the pistons. So I guess I'll rebuild the calipers, see if the discs can be machined (although with the deep grooves on both sides, I highly doubt this is even an option, anyone have the minimum thickness handy?).
Stupid question, this is the first time I've taken the hubs off of a 105 Alfa. The nuts holding the bearing were only finger tight (the nuts at the end of the spindles)...I guess that's normal, because otherwise the bearing would not be allowed to spin??

About repacking the bearings, I guess it's just clean off the old grease, and put in a ton of new grease?
I also want to replace the old flexible brake lines, what do you guys recommend using?
On a positive note, the rear brakes looked fine. It was a little hard to turn the wheels, but I guess that's because I just took the handbrake off, and the would free up more as soon as you start driving

**TorW** · #2 (**permalink**) 09-13-2009, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter

[...]anyone have the minimum thickness handy?).

**Peter** · #3 (**permalink**) 09-13-2009, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TorW

10 mm. If I understood the convoluted language in the shop manual, you can't grind off more than 1 mm (e.g. 0.5 mm each side).

Not sure what you mean by "the bolts holding the bearing". You mean the nut at the end of the spindle or perhaps the countersunk screws in the brake disk hat?

**Peter** · #4 (**permalink**) 09-13-2009, 04:05 PM

Looks like I'll be needing new rotors. I'm seeing that earlier cars, like my Duetto, are supposed to have smaller rotors, like 266,7 mm....My duetto may have been converted, as I measured my rotors and they are like 271 mm....is that the larger size that was used on 1750 and 2000 cars??

**TorW** · #5 (**permalink**) 09-13-2009, 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter

thanks for your reply....sorry for my poor choice of words, I meant the nut at the end of the spindle (original text edited for clarity)

**Peter** · #6 (**permalink**) 09-26-2009, 03:32 PM

so finally putting her back together. Rebuilt calipers, with some fresh paint, cleaned and painted the hub, some fresh black paint here and there, cleaned the bearings and repacked them with fresh grease.....

**Peter** · #7 (**permalink**) 09-26-2009, 03:39 PM

new grease seal in place, hub mounted on the new disc, some grease around the spindle, assembly in place, calipers mounted with fresh pads. Also replaced the brake lines. It's not a concourse job, with all the paint in correct colors....but it's functional, and I like it

**Peter** · #8 (**permalink**) 09-26-2009, 03:45 PM

so now I need to bleed the brakes. I have not done this before on my Spider. Opened the brake fluid reservoir, and it's different from my GTV's. See the picture of what cardisc calls sealing bellows.....the was brake fluid in the bellows, isn't it supposed to be below the bellows only? If so, are these prone to leaking and easy to replace, or NLA? Have not had an issue with this, but I guess it's supposed to help keep moisture out of the system?

**TorW** · #9 (**permalink**) 09-27-2009, 06:36 AM

Nice job! What's that paint on the hubs? Hammerite?

**Peter** · #10 (**permalink**) 09-27-2009, 10:12 AM

I used a spray can of Rustoleum Hammered finish. Came out really nice

**Peter** · #11 (**permalink**) 09-27-2009, 12:44 PM

OK, so I bled the brakes. They feel really good, brake fine. Got them warmed up gradually to properly bed the pads. All is well, except I can still hear my front brakes drag a little.....drove around for about 20 minutes, thinking things just needed to settle....but they are still noisy. Any idea what I did wrong?

Stopwatch · #12 (**permalink**) 09-27-2009, 06:41 PM

I'd let it sit overnight to let any small residual air bubbles work their way to the reservoir, then bleed again. Make sure there isn't too much fluid in the reservoir; not enough air space can cause the pistons to not move back as much as they should.

What flexible brake lines did you use? Steel braid over rubber or oem-style rubber?

Nice clean job.