Brake Servo Rebuild

[63alpine]

White Post! That's the company I'd heard of previously when I first had problems. Anyone any actual experience with them? Hate to send off a part that's almost impossible to replace without a reference.

Anyone any experience with the eBay option? Do we know if he is a forum member?

Thanks for the tips about bypassing. I'm sure it works fine, but I do want to keep everything as original as possible mechanically. I guess that's what I find to be a large part of the fun of being an Alpine owner .

 

[burgy711]

I have had a number of email exchanges with oneoffive aka Randy Willett out of Denver. He is a long time Sunbeam Tiger Owner and knows the Marquee. My experience with his work is that he is honest and re-builds quality servo's. I currently have two servo's in the re-build stage with Larry Atkisson. They both needed re-sleeving and are currently with Sierra Specialty Auto out of California for that work. Once re-sleeved Larry will finish the re-builds. Randy uses the same Cal. business to re-sleeve his servo's if they are needed. Send me a PM and I will provide you with Randy's email address. On occasion he can have orphaned servo's that are available.

 

[63alpine]

Thanks for the info Steve. I actually e-mailed Randy last night using the address on his eBay listing and have already received a response.

Thanks to everyone for your help.

 

[dcalpine]

I just sent my servo off to whitepost this week based on the high recommendation of my mechanic who has used them for years. They do a quality rebuild from my understanding. Please let us know how Randy's turn out for future ref.

Dan

 

[65beam]

brake servo

MR.SCOFIELD

everyone has an opinion and mine is that i don't like the servo unit plus the gentleman that rebuilds my boosters has probably forgotten more about sunbeams than most people will ever know.you seem to assume that everybody does things wrong but they don't.besides,someone my size doesn't need help to apply the brakes.

 

[Jeff Scoville]

It is nice to get so many opinions/ ideas, as long as the original questions are answered.

So in summation,
The options are;
bypass the servo and leave all else same,
bypass the servo and replace MC with .700 bore,
bypass the servo and throw it away,
bypass the serve and have it worked to "Appear" not to be bypassed,
rebuild your servo,
have your servo rebuilt,
have your servo relined with brass, (and rebuilt),
replace MC with dual circuit,
mount 2x4 where e-brake handle was and pull hard,
don't fix floors, buy REALLY good boots.......


Let's just try to help each other accomplish what that person WANTS to accomplish.


PS, the boot thing does NOT work very well,
and the 2x4 wears quite quickly!

 

[Jay Laifman]

Couple things. Smitty in San Diego does excellent rebuilds on the servos. He does do something different that does in fact make them work - I don't remember what it is. But, my dad would know and may have put something about it on his site (http://www.tigersunited.com). That said, I have also heard that Smitty tends to be very busy and things take a while.

Second, on the size of the MC when taking off the servo, it's all about leverage and fluid movement. All other things being equal, the bigger the diameter of the MC, the more fluid you push per given movement of the brake pedal. So, the more fluid you push, the harder the force on your foot, and the less leverage you have. The smaller diameter of the MC, the less fluid you push and the easier it is, but it takes more travel to get the same result. There is a range where too big of a diameter gets too hard to push and you can't get enough force for effective braking, and where too small of a diameter doesn't move enough fluid to get effective braking.

The .700 diameter MC is a great size for the stock Alpine brake cylinders without the servo. The .8xx MC one may be close to being a bit too big, though many who have used it without the servo are probably used to it and think it's fine.

It also depends on what size servo you have. I learned the hard way that the servo sold by SS is a 2.3:1 ratio servo, the VB one is 1.9:1, and the one Lockheed wrote to me as the "correct" one for the Sunbeam is a 3:1 (signed by an "engineer" and a "review engineer.") I ran the 1.9:1 servo with my .700 MC and it was way too soft. I need to .700 one because it's the only one short enough to fit with the Webers.