Did I mention that Maggie’s squealing brakes are a major annoyance? After switching to the EBC GreenStuff brake pads last month the issue became even worse compared to the standard ones I had for the last two years. This has been a battle ever since I installed replacement brake calipers and moved away from the Mintex M1144 pads. I tried various things. Applying Liquid Moly Anti-Squeal Paste reduced the problem with the standard pads – but only for a short while. Chamfering the side of the pads also helped a little but never for long. There a quite a few articles on MGEXP and other forums as well as one Youtube including a series of three from Peter Sanderson. He recommends to use rebuild Lockheed calipers and points of a difference on the sides of the calipers.
As the replacement calipers were originally intended for project Mildred – I decided to take attempt an overhaul of the Lockheed ones. The minute I got them out of the storage, I remembered why I ordered replacements in the first place. They were in a somewhat rough condition – but why not give it a go. After removing the pads and old brake hoses (which needed a lot of persuasing to come off) I removed the bleeder valve and the top seal screw to get the fluid remains out. Next I placed some flat iron pieces between the pistons and used compress air to press them out. This worked well on one caliper – but one piston was stuck for good. After installing the top piece from the other side caliper to block the connection between the two sides – it took almost 8 bar of pressure to finally get the piston out.
Maggie’s old Lookheed calipers already received sand-blasting and powdercoating. The challenge here is getting alle debrie out of the caliper channels. Taking them apart is essential here as well. The pistons were removed with the same method but came out easily with just over 1.5 bar air pressure. Cleaning up the inside surfaces is a bit tricky – I found a perfect matching clear-strip-disc for the power-drill and that removed most of dirt. Now I waiting for parts from Moss for the rebuild.
This is going to take a while and I still wanted to see if I can reduce the problem with the EBC Greenstuff pads. But instead of going back to standard pads – I decided to test the Mintex M1144 again. Getting the EBC pads out with the sticky tape provided for the backside is tricky. Only two came out without an issue – the other two were stuck. After I had them out I compared them to the Mintex. The M1144 are shaped differently and have slightly more pad area. As Peter points out in his video – the sides of the pads seem to touch the calipers and might cause squeal. The Mintex fit much better here.
While the car was up in the air, I also changed the rear axle diff oil, retorqued the front and rear suspension, checked and corrected the end-float on the right front wheel hub. Wheel alignment check with the Gunson trakrite showed that Maggie has slight toe-in. This is good, but the acquirancy of the Gunson tool is not good enough to get to the specs on the manual. While doing the first test drives and trying to bed the brakes I had a slight brake squeal again – nothing close to what I had before. Mintex recommends to do 200km until the brake pads are completely bedded. To do this I did multiple 50km/h to 20km/h brakes with low pressure – followed by a few stops from 100km/h to about 40km/h with medium pressure.
Overall, I am quite happy now with Maggie’s setup. The brake pedal pressure is better, steering and handling close to what they were when the car came from Frontline in 2018. The MGB is ready for the 2024 season – rust repairs will need to wait a bit longer but need to be done. Getting the Morgan back onto the road is the next priority.
Fixing C6622 
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