BritishV8 Forum

Me either.  

It's called a "Pressure Differential Warning Actuator" because it actuates a warning when the differential pressure between the front and the rear brake lines gets too high. On an MGB it's called a "brake failure switch."

I believe mine is called a 5/8" NSF Bolt.  Nary a problem : ).  hope I can feel a failure approaching?

I believe it is entirely missing on my car. At least I won't have to rebuild it.

Jim

Don't have one on my V8, either.

DanM:

I replaced the one in the PowerBlock.  

I don't have the PDWA in either the racecar (made no difference, btw) and my road car (Ted's front Willwoods.)  

The rebuild kits are cheap and so because that's how the lines are made, I'll just rebuild it and stick it back.   (The hard part of replacing it is coming up with a 7/16-20 3-way union to put the front lines into!)   The rear is easy-- the OE union from under the floor, scrounged from a parts car, works perfect.  :-)

M

UPDATE:

Worked on the RM for a bit yesterday.     To Wit:
a) replaced the PDWA, which was leaking out the switch (from the Front side).  Couldn't rebuild the one in there-- it's the type they DON'T make the seals for!   So, replaced it with one from a later car which was rebuildable.   Ended up vacuumi bleeding the brakes.  (Pressure bleeder wouldn't seal, dumped fluid all over the floor).  Pedal is firm, but I wouldn't call brakes stellar, merely 'good'.  
b) Aimed the headlights UP some.  (Note:  in this car, with those headlights, it actually meant on one of them to let the bottom OUT because the top couldn't screw in anymore.)  Haven't driven it in darkness since, but I agreed with PJ that they were MUCH too close on the road.
c) Tried to shim the rack further (still some back/forth slop in the steering wheel).  No good-- locks up the rack.   I'm wondering if our remaining slop is actually in the collapsible column?  
d) Cleaned and reoiled the air filter.
e) checked fuel gauge wiring (both sender and gauge are grounded).   Checked sender itself (I was low on fuel anyway...  :-) ) and found it old, worn and rusty (but the float still did!). Alas we didn't have one in stock, but I'd recommend a swap to a new one and see if that stabilizes the gauge.  
f) put thread sealant on the front-most manifold bolt (pass side) which was leaking coolant.  Not sure if it *should* be into the water jacket, but it is!


It was a beautiful day here, yesterday.  Would have loved to go for a cruise but the carb/tune still isn't good enough to fully enjoy the car.   Short bursts it's okay, but it shakes under the heavy foot....  :-(


One Build Note:   Working on this car by yourself, well... sucks.   I've usually worked on it as a "team/crew" activity, and (other than Jim) probably everyone else did, too?   However, we SCREWED ourselves royally by doing this because we have TOO MANY situations where there are 'bolt-throughs" (cuz someone held a wrench underneath/inside, etc.) and you can't get those by yourself!!  

Perfect example:  brake master and pedal box.  Two studs (NOT welded) hold the master.  (It looks like maybe they WERE welded, but they ain't now!).  Then four bolts and nuts hold the plate that THOSE bolts are in!   In all cases we need capture nuts/studs, but if just ONE had been done, I could have handled the other.   With neither done, I was unable to undo any of this and just had to "wing it" back together.  (Super Glue a wonderful thing...)    

(And, usual excuse:  at the time-- No Brakes and struggling Yet Again to bleed tham-- I was not eager to Undo the whole pedal box assembly so as to make this more Loner User Friendly.   So, sorry-- I just passed the buck.   :-p  )

Anyway, the conclusion is:  Capture Nuts are our Friends!   Let's install them more frequently in the future.   :-)  

$.02

Cheers,

M

ADDENDUM:

Fan ran yesterday on drive home.  (Rem:  "beautiful day?"  :-)  ).  It shut itself off.   (This is now new relay on powerblock.)   I'm not saying it's fixed (I have no reason to believe it is!) but if it doesn't "stick" on, we can't really chase down the problem...  :-/

M

Thank you, Max.

This is a picture of one of my daughters enjoying the car at the WVBCC Christmas party last year.

Thanks Max and give me a shout if you need a helper.

Which is faster?

It seems like Max had a question about possible play in the steering column.
Yes, this is a possibility. I have recently read some good advice on column rebuilding and there is one thing we may not have done when we worked on the column, and that is the step of heating the slip joint and pumping hot melt glue into the holes. I can't say for certain that we did not do it, but I can't say for sure that we did either. So if there is play in the column it's a pretty safe bet that is the cause.

Jim

I think play that involves the slip joint will be only in the in/out movement.

steve

Maybe we could sweet-talk Gerry Masterman of Louisiana to rebuild the column for us?!

Good timing....this was posted on the MGE this morning:

http://www.mgexp.com/phorum/read.php?1,2324633

Pretty sure I have a spare column or two.  If Gerry would do the rebuild, I'd send them to him so he could rebuild & send the rebuilt one to wherever the car is so it'd be a quick swap out & car wouldn't be down.  Would need to confirm that mine use the same splines but pretty sure both are '72-74 chrome bumper columns.  Will double check them this weekend -- they might not even need a rebuild for that matter.

I'll contact Gerry to see if he would be interested in assisting with the Roadmaster.

Of course, none of this will help a worn rack.

Gents:

Let me confirm where the wear is.   There are only two shims left in the rack-- both .010's.   There might be a little to gain there by taking out a few thou, but taking out just one of the tens locks up the rack, so it's pretty close to correct.   The simple check is turning the wheel while watching the column to see if the movement correlates (before/after the steering knuckle.)   Given all the vibration we were suffering, it's also possible the steering u-joint is going bad!

Also, pretty sure the column is the OE 1969.   And I believe this matters based on how steering lock, switches, and cowling attach...?   Not to mention steering wheel.   (I'm not sure they are different.   But something in the back of my mind thinks there are things that are year specific...)  


I'd rather get the car running better.   The column is a minor annoyance (constant driving corrections) but doesn't limit the enjoyment of the car like the lack of positive throttle response.   :-pj

More later...

M

I guess everyone has read this.

http://www.mgexp.com/article/easy-mgb-steering-column-repair.html

We now have a "new" steering column....all we need is to get the old unit sent to gerry masterman.
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Rick, sure send it to me and I'll be more than happy to fix it up for your club.

What kind of time frame are you looking at? I just told a local machine shop to make be 200 sets of bushings so it may be a week or two before they complete the order and I have yet to order the other hardware that goes in the kits. I'm thinking maybe 3-4 weeks turnaround from today. Is that OK? Gerry

-----Original Message-----
From: Mowog1 <Mowog1@aol.com>
To: gmasterman <gmasterman@aol.com>
Sent: Fri, Mar 29, 2013 4:14 pm
Subject: MGB column bushings


Gerry, our club car the 1968 MGB/GT V8 conversion (aka The Roadmaster) is in need of a rebushing of its steering column.
 
Would you like to help us out here? (We are a Not-For-Profit organization)
 
Would you consider donating a set of bushings....and possibly refurbishing the column for us?
 
We could send the column to you for rebushing....or if you want to simply donate a set of bushing, one of our members could then re-bush the column.
 
Your name would of course, then join those who have donated (cash, product, labour, etc) previously to this educational project.
 
Thank you for your consideration!
 
rick

Oh Max...

hehehe

Well, last time *I* came up with an idea, I ended up doing a Diff Swap with my Crew!

I think we'll let Ingram handle the steering column chore...  :-)      (I will, however, come up with my best analysis of where the remaining slop actually resides.)  Also, I'm a strong believer in rebuilding a spare and then swapping when possible.   Rebuilding the OE just means 'down time" on the car, and anything "volunteer" is rarely subject to time constraints.   :-p

$.02

M

Max...Rob Ficalora was going to send Gerry a spare (68-76) column to be rebuilt...we can then install the one Gerry sends and keep the old column for a spare if needed.