Practically Classics Forum

Did you modify it to take backplates with double-ended cylinders then? Last time I was in about at the rear brakes on a Vitesse, they were sliding cylinders the same as those found on various other Triumphs, four wheeled Reliants and no doubt other cars from the 1960s through 1980s.

Or are there now flexies all the way from the middle of the floor to the hub carriers and from there to the backplates? That's impressive..
Good plan though, and completely safe with the movement of the cylinders.

JPB wrote:Did you modify it to take backplates with double-ended cylinders then? Last time I was in about at the rear brakes on a Vitesse, they were sliding cylinders the same as those found on various other Triumphs, four wheeled Reliants and no doubt other cars from the 1960s through 1980s.

Or are there now flexies all the way from the middle of the floor to the hub carriers and from there to the backplates? That's impressive..
Good plan though, and completely safe with the movement of the cylinders.

The flexible hoses at the rear go from the chassis straight into the brake cylinders (sliding) and the ones at the front ditto into the calipers. All hard piping is secured to the body with clips.

This Canley diagram shows it:

http://www.canleyclassics.com/?xhtml=xh ... iagram.xsl

Denis

My car came in a pretty rough state, having been last restored in the eighties and then passed through several enthusiastic but unskilled owners, but the one thing that didn't need attention was the brake pipes- according to the bills that came with it the copper pipes were fitted in 1988 and are still in great condition now, but I needed to replace all the flexibles, front and rear. Copper shouldn't give you any bother then if my car is anything to go by

The rear flexies are probably the most vulnerable part of the system, given the potentially huge amount of swing enthusiatic cornering or even just jacking can bring to the back axle and yes they are sliding cylinders, just the same as more or less every British car from that era. The flexies run from brackets on the rear shock turrets. Personally I'd avoid goodriche hoses- they are still only rubbery pipes inside and the armour can hide all sorts of damage- because the rears do move about so much they can and do deteriorate pretty quickly.