Brake trouble.

If you’ve read the 2018 Targa High Country blog you will know that we suffered complete front brake failure on the last day due to a cracked fitting on one of the caliper which released all the fluid. While ultimately this didn’t affect our result in the rally as we were able to take the last stage slowly and still hold our place, our next event was just four days away in Bathurst at the iconic and world renowned Mount Panorama circuit. And we are 1,000kms from home with no spares and Bathurst is another 800kms from here or about closer to 2,200kms round trip if we have to go home for repairs first. So we need some repair options.

Monday morning, let’s take a closer look at the problem and make sure it’s not just a loose fitting. Problem #1, the fitting is a super close fit in the caliper and getting any swing with an open spanner isn’t possible (plus it’s imperial and we only have metric tools). There isn’t a parts store nearby and we still have a diff change and spanner check to do before we leave Mt Buller on Tuesday so the decision is made to hit the road and deal with the problem once we reach Bathurst on Wednesday where there are specialist shops and parts stores plus another 50 Datsun guys competing at the same event for moral support.

But that doesn’t leave any wiggle room if the caliper isn’t repairable and not enough time to get replacement parts from anywhere as the brake kit is aftermarket and specific to the Z car struts. So we hit the phones and end up in discussion with Scott at Maddat (www.maddat.com.au) who has a pair of similar calipers sitting on the shelf back in Adelaide. The set he has are radial mount where ours are an ear mount style but he has the dogbone mounts to suit the Z car struts as well and after a bunch of measurements at both ends and some back of the napkin calculations we think these will fit up OK. On top of that Scott is happy to overnight them straight to our Hotel in Bathurst and even refund us if they turn out not to fit correctly. So we have a backup plan sorted and hit the road.

Wednesday in Bathurst sees us first trying the local brake shop in the hope they can reproduce the crossover hardline we think is cracked for a quick fix. Unfortunately they decline, they don’t believe they can reproduce the tight bends required for clearance but they do sell us some copper washers that sit in the flare and might help seal the leak. But we still need some flare spanners to actually get this thing in and out so we head to the local Repco. They do have flare spanners but they are way too thick to clear the tight clearances required but they do have cheap imperial spanner sets in the discount bin so we procure a set and grab a hacksaw and some files so we can make our own spanner. We talk to the shop staff and they suggest we pop round the corner and visit the local mechanic as he might let us use a vice etc to help with the job so we walk over to Steve’s shop and explain our problem and not only does he let us use his space but he even takes to the spanner with the cut off wheel and linisher to make sure it fits in the caliper and works a treat. And then won’t take any payment. Super nice guy.

Back at the track and we have a go at installing the new washers in the flares, mount everything back up and bleed the brakes but unfortunately it leaks even worse and clearly the hard line is cracked so we give up and move onto plan B, the new calipers.

Thankfully the new calipers arrived from Maddat later in the day and we set to work checking the fit and alignment. In theory everything checks out and even the pads are the same pattern but then we strike a problem, because we are already using a second caliper mount (instead of bolting straight to the strut) we run into a clearance issue where the mounting bolt interferes with the new dogbone adaptor. Bugger.

But this is still our only realistic option of have the car ready for the event so we again hit the shops for some more tools and some longer high tensile bolts with the aim of making the mount bolt actually pass through the dogbone. Again the locals come through and we soon have the required bolts and a decent file to help with the clearance and after some judicious application of elbow grease we have a working mount (using both adaptors!) and finally everything fits and clears and as a bonus it even holds fluid and we have brakes.

This little episode is something that every racer experiences at some point, unless you are a professional team with endless spares you are eventually going to get stopped mid event with a broken part that you just don’t have as a spare. We do have spares for most parts of the car, even if it means raiding the Sunday driver road car but we simply can’t carry one of everything to a race meeting so pre-event we just have to make a judgement on what parts we can fit in our tow car (just a regular station wagon and open trailer) and what we think we might need. We often carry a spare diff and axles, mounts and hoses and hoses and other small items and consumables but big items like gearboxes are impractical and expensive items like aftermarket brake calipers just aren’t in the budget. Invariably you never have the part you need and when we race close to home it’s not such a problem but when you’re 1,000kms from home you can’t just pop back for a part if you need it.

In this instance we’ll repair the old calipers and add them to our spares kit so we’ll be covered next time but on the whole our car has been pretty reliable and only let us down a couple of times in 10 years. Could this have been prevented with better maintenance? I don’t think so, the part that failed isn’t a service item or consumable, since new the fitting has never been removed and really should be a lifetime part. Interestingly though, the new calipers we got superseded the old model and they no longer use the external transfer tube (the part that failed) and instead are internally drilled, so who knows, perhaps this really was a failure just waiting to happen….