Do I need dust covers at the back of the front disks?

[peteracs]

Hi All

Something which has been going round in my mind for a little while.

I rebuilt my front struts and brakes, but try as I might I cannot remember if there were dust covers at the back of the disks when I took them to pieces to clean them and I certainly cannot find any in my parts bins, so the question remains, should I source a pair or does it not relally matter as I do not intend driving it during the bad weather?

Peter

[WestonE]

Hi Peter

There are no dust covers on the front discs that I have ever seen. There are dust covers on the rear, probably to keep the discs running warm enough for the pad material to work.

Eric

[peteracs]

Hi All

I am resurrecting this as I had forgotten all about it tbh..... only remembered as I am in the process of refurbish the rear suspension and that jogged my memory! Yes I have actually restarted working on the car.

In answer to Eric, the parts book show covers on both the front and rear discs, so originally there would have been covers, so anyone know of a source of them and how many folk have them on their cars currently?

Thanks

Peter

[Neil-yaj396]

Only on the rear on the 1300.

[peteracs]

Hi

Ok, I reread the parts book and the front covers were for only for export to Norway, Sweden and Australia, so no dust covers required.......

I did find the some for sale in the US oddly enough!

Peter

[Nigel]

Hi

Ok, I reread the parts book and the front covers were for only for export to Norway, Sweden and Australia, so no dust covers required.......

I did find the some for sale in the US oddly enough!

Peter

I'm so glad to read this. When I saw the front covers on my Aus car,I assumed they were a 'late car' fitment.
I also thought i was going mad.

On rear brakes, I recall having to replace the spring-shaped thingy quite often on customer cars.
The little tag would break off.
It's part of the handbrake self-adjust system i.e. the handbrake lever would work its way up to max height eventually.
Back in 1980,that spring was available separately. I wonder if that's still the case.

Regards, Nige

[peteracs]

Hi Nige

Is this the return spring on the arm which the handbrake cable is attached to?

Peter

[Nigel]

This is the one Peter. I can't recall exactly where
it goes without seeing the caliper.

One of my saved items I brought back from SA
in 06,knowing that eventually I'd have another Beta!

A Euro coin for size context seems appropriate today 

[peteracs]

Hi

Sorry for the late reply, but that looks nothing like the spring I have on my rear callipers. Mine has the following spring. Were there two types?

Peter

[peteracs]

Hi

I just looked at the parts breakdown and I can see where the spring goes, interestingly none of the 4 callipers I stripped have it, just the simple retaining spring for the internal special bolt for the piston.

Odd, just curious what the spring actually does?

Peter

[George-S]

Agree never seen it .. Here is mine in bits...

George

[Ammy]

Only ever dismantled the rear brakes once,,  long,long time ago,  seem to remember a similar spring which was part of the handbrake automatic adjustment.  There was a small hole in the base of the caliper which the spring end located and the other end "unwound" the piston to compensate for pad wear.

[Nigel]

Only ever dismantled the rear brakes once,,  long,long time ago,  seem to remember a similar spring which was part of the handbrake automatic adjustment.  There was a small hole in the base of the caliper which the spring end located and the other end "unwound" the piston to compensate for pad wear.

Hi Ammy,
I recall that the coil part 'slips and grips' the centre shaft and the 'pin' piece,as you said, locates in the piston.
It's interesting that this part doesn't seem to feature,or is an issue, in practice.

Regards
Nigel

[Nigel]

George,
Correct me if i'm wrong, but I think I see the little spring barely visible wrapped around the centre screw shaft.
[next to the right hand wedge in your pic]
 
Nigel

[peteracs]

Hi Nigel

I thought it was the seal on the screw at first, but could be though looks to have very few turns?

Peter

[George-S]

Hi,

Its not the spring no .. think that's the little Rubber seal you can see there.

I am certain i haven't seen it..  Mine is a 1979 maybe they use it in the later cars ?

Cheers George

[peteracs]

Hi All

Ok, mystery solved. Interestingly the parts explosion does not show the full amount of parts in the rear brake piston.

I decided to strip out a piston from one I was not intending to use. The Haynes manual specifically says not to do this for some reason. As you can see inside the piston is a retaining clip, flat sided washer/retaining plate, bearing, hollow spindle which has the small spring wound around it tightly. The end of the spring goes into a hole inside the piston.

So the question now is should I strip the ones I am about to reuse and check the bearing and the spring etc?

Peter

[Nigel]

Well done for finding it Peter!

It had to be in there somewhere. As said before, I changed quite a few of those things back
around 1979-82, but don't recall the ages of the cars. 

I've got 2 spare ones that i'll be using later. I haven't got to the brakes yet
on my recommission project.

Cheers Nigel