I am in the process of a complete stripdown/restoration of my S Type
I've just finished the front suspension and brake rebuild and have moved to work on the rear suspension and brakes

The IRS cage is off the car and disassembled.

So am ordering parts. A question on the rear inner and outer fulcrum shafts and all the bits and pieces associated with these.
There doesn't appear to be any wear or play/movement in either of the shafts (inner or outer) on either side of the car.
I'm considering just cleaning up, lubricating, reassembling and not replacing any of the shaft bearings etc.
I'd appreciate peoples comments and experience... is this a false economy? The rebuild kits for both sides will cost around 350 euro.

 

my only advice is whenever you come to Florida USA, you can do mine.

 

When I rebuilt mine I examined all the parts and those that needed replacing were and those that did not need replacing were left.
If you replaced everything whether it needed it or not it would cost a fortune.
A friend of mine has just spent £50k on rebuilding one of his S types. Every nut and bolt, washer, bearing, rubber, if it could be bought new it was changed. He gave me all the secondhand parts he had replaced. Seemed excessive to me but he had the money and that is what he wanted to do. The car owes him over £60k including the purchase price and is worth £30 maybe £35k. I on the other hand refurbished as much as I could and kept as much of the car as original as I could. My car owes me £11500 including the purchase price and is worth £20 maybe £25k.
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

 

I'm certainly trying to adopt this approach.
If I ever finish this project it won't be a new car and I don't really want it to be.. I really don't mind something that's old showing its age a little!
There's no play or movement in either shaft, so I'll clean things up, inspect carefully, and anything that doesn't need to be replaced will be reused.

 

My car had obviously been religiously greased. Cleaned it all up and reused most. All you need to possibly replace are the sealing rings. See parts manual.

The only difficulty at the rear can be setting/shimming the hubs after fitting new bearings.Those shims are a sod. They are tight & you are usually better off to buy one oversize & gently grind it to size. Don't forget the water flingers.

 

A lot of the stuff I refurbished was good but not great cosmetically, but over the years I have collected lots of secondhand parts and if I find a part better than that on the car I have swapped them over. In the case of some mechanical parts I have since bought new to replace as the car has been used and the older part was on the way out.

 

I like to keep the original parts, and I find it to be better quality and better tolerances on dimensions than a lot of the reproduction parts. If you've inspected the parts and they are all fine, I'd reuse them. Perhaps the only thing I'd replace as a matter of course is bearings and seals.

 

Very true about many repro parts. To the point "If it ain't broke, don't fix it with something that either doesn't fit or will break sooner." Secondhand parts are often a lot cheaper as well.

 

I have stripped down the rear brakes and am ordering parts. I have brake pistons which look like this, which have a central button which the pads locate on, part no10122 ;

Two different replacement pistons are offered by both Martin Robey and SNG. One which looks like the one above and another 'conventional' looking one without the central button as below, part number 11372 , which is considerably cheaper.
So anybody know which one I need? Can I use the less costly one?

 

The one is designed to prevent caliper over return (with centre piece) They don't work which is why they have been generally deleted.

Let me attach my thread.

 

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/m...ds-etc-211186/

I have a more detailed version on MBWorld shound you be interested.

 

In certain cases with Jaguar it is done to clip the back of the pad to the piston. Also ineffective.

 

Here is the MBWorld thread. Ignore the few ignorant naysayers (RLE ~ the forum know-all/dunce). I of course love posts #20 & #21

https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...placement.html

 

Over return didn't cause a problem on my Mk2 most likely because the pull back mechanism stopped working on all pistons in nineteen sixty something! I believe that Jaguar and Dunlop dropped it without any problems on the lightweight E-types without servo assistance to improve the brake action.

 

The world has given up and settled on flat end pistons & in most cases just told the staff what to do. Sadly caliper over return has not been explained to staff to improve learning. Caliper over return is a common problem on modern vehicles. The driver just does not know what is happening & Moms shopping car develops a lower & lower pedal until service & another firm high pedal after new pads.

Some also drive in a manner to move the seal down the bore. I have a section of road where I do some hard ABS triggering braking that moves the seals down the bore. I just don't like doing it & the damage it does to my Michelins.

 

Ok thanks, so the conventional piston is the one I need.
Do I just pull out the central pin in the bore of the caliper?

 

These are fine in inner & outer. Remember sizes vary.

 

IIRC the hollow bore piston accommodates the pin. How are those damn pins held in there? My S Type was rid of all that stuff long ago. I have authentic Dunlop calipers but chucked the rest of that stuff out as more trouble than it was worth. Stainless lined calipers with stainless pistons.

 

Glynn,
Don't the hollow bore pistons go in with the hollow bit pointing out so the pin has to go?
I don't know how they're fixed in there, I'll have a look in the morning. They're not rigidly held, they wiggle around a bit so they must be in some kind of rubber mount.

 

Sorry good point. It's a while back & I did not do the job I watched while chatting. Summit did the job when stainless lining. Just pull them out while being careful with the bore. I have no pins.