Fast Marina Magazine

G'day everyone, I haven't been on the forum for years - I hope you and your marinas are well. I very recently dragged my marina van into the daylight and took it in for its first roadworthiness inspection in 6 years. It did very well for a 47 year old leyland product but failed on sticky front brakes. Had a look and the pistons and seals do look pretty sad. I have ordered new sliders, shims, flex lines & pads and will send the calipers away for reconditioning. I thought while I was at it I may as well replace the discs - anyone know where to get them from? I did consider getting marina saloon discs and having them drilled to 114.3mm (4.5") if the van/pickup discs are NLA. I don't suppose mgb discs are the same?

Thanks and a merry christmas to you all
Eric

The disks are the same as the saloon & coupe ones. The wheel stud spacing is set in the hub not the brake disk. Unlike many modern cars where the brake disk centre fits over the wheel hub, on the Marina, the disk rotor is bolted to the back of the wheel hub.

Thanks Chris, that's fantastic news. I've owned this van 18 years and have never had the discs off!

Cheers

doullama wrote: Fri Dec 27, 2024 9:31 am Thanks Chris, that's fantastic news. I've owned this van 18 years and have never had the discs off!

Cheers

Do you have a source for new front discs in NZ?

I'll just have a hunt online, not too fussed if they have to be imported.

I should follow this up - got new discs and bearings, pads and sliders from esm morris minors in the uk, carried of course because of the number of minors with marina disc conversions. The parts and shipping to new zealand were quite reasonable. The hub bolts didn't put up much fight at all which was suprising given the age of the old discs. The caliper reconditioners were also waiting for stainless pistons to arrive ex uk, they are now reassembled and new braided lines are being made up - should be ready tomorrow with any luck.

The brakes work quite hard on a Marina, so it’s a good idea to go for braided hoses, they will sharpen up the feel nicely.

With braided hoses how do you clamp off the pipe to work on them or do you loose the fluid? Or plug the hose when removed. As I use DOT 5 it is rather expensive to spill on the floor

JubileeNut wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2025 4:49 pm With braided hoses how do you clamp off the pipe to work on them or do you loose the fluid? Or plug the hose when removed. As I use DOT 5 it is rather expensive to spill on the floor

Open the bleed nipple, push the brake pedal to the floor, and wedge it in the down position, this stops the fluid syphoning out

Brian

If you push the pedal all the way down the fluid will come out of the bleed nipple, yes you can catch it but I would not put the expelled fluid back in the system so it is wasted. Then if you have an older master cylinder it will need new seals fitted after pushing the pedal all the way past the worn ridge in the cylinder! I only use a pressure bleeder to avoid this issue. Just wondering as I don't have braided hoses fitted.

I run braided hoses, to bleed them I use a bleed pipe that has a non-return valve in it, dumping fluid into a large jar. I fill the reservoir and then work the pedal/master cylinder. The fluid is pushed out of the open bleed nipple, when the pedal comes up, the one way valve closes and the level reduces in the reservoir, rather than sucking back dirty fluid or air. To be fair, if I can co-opt willing pedal pusher, then the job is easier, as I can monitor the expelled fluid for discolouration or air bubbles.

Hi Chris, My question is if you remove the calliper and are doing brake work the pipe is left open. I guess you can leave your bleed pipe with non return valve connected to the open pipe? But you can not use a clamp on braided hoses I assume? That is what I am getting at. The normal hoses you can clamp off and remove a calliper and then replace without loosing fluid and then bleed the air out of just the replaced item.

I have a set of these little clamps, they've come in pretty handy. They have a rubber stopper on one end

JubileeNut wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2025 7:26 pm Then if you have an older master cylinder it will need new seals fitted after pushing the pedal all the way past the worn ridge in the cylinder! I only use a pressure bleeder to avoid this issue. Just wondering as I don't have braided hoses fitted.

I agree about the expelled fluid not being reused, however "the worn ridge in the cylinder", if that were the case, it would not be possible to bleed the brakes in the traditional manner without wrecking the seals, something I've managed to avoid in over 35 years of dealing with BL cars, and older !!.

I'd go one further, and suggest if a hydraulic cylinder in a sealed system has, somehow acquired a "worn ridge", it's not fit for purpose, and would require replacement.

If you were referring to let's say the clutch slave cylinder, an open ended design, I would agree that rust in the bore would conceivably damage the rubber seals, but we're talking about an industry standard method of preventing fluid from syphoning out while the system is open at the opposite end, and it is a method employed successfully by thousands of mechanics worldwide.

Brian

MarinaCoupe wrote: Wed Feb 12, 2025 7:41 am I run braided hoses, to bleed them I use a bleed pipe that has a non-return valve in it, dumping fluid into a large jar. I fill the reservoir and then work the pedal/master cylinder. The fluid is pushed out of the open bleed nipple, when the pedal comes up, the one way valve closes and the level reduces in the reservoir, rather than sucking back dirty fluid or air. To be fair, if I can co-opt willing pedal pusher, then the job is easier, as I can monitor the expelled fluid for discolouration or air bubbles.

Exactly my point, there is nothing wrong as suggested by Jubilee Nut, in allowing the master cylinder to operate over it's full stroke, and the question was on how to minimise fluid loss, while the callipers are removed for overhaul.

To do that without needing to resort to clamping hoses, is to lock the pedal in the down stroke, using something like [ebay]https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/335772758745 ... R7LolLufZQ[/ebay]

Brian