Question2 things:
I just purchased a beautiful 1975 MG Midget in hopes to turn around and sell it. (The owner had arthitis and couldn't get in it anymore.) I knew there were a few problems, and being into cars, I figured I would tinker/ fix the few issues and sell it.(Though now I'm liking the car too much.)
I'm stumped. Here's the issue:
1) The brake pedal while being applied will slowly sink to the floor. It's spongy/soft, I haven't tried bleeding the brakes yet. Should I do that? How?
2) When the car hits about 50, the whole front end starts to shake. I figured @ first it needed to be balanced, but it's not that. I will put the clutch in, and it'll still shake, so I don't think it's an engine issue. While driving about 50, a lady in the car next to me pointed at my front end and yelled something, but I haven't seen anything specific since then.
Any idea what it could be? All appears solid and fine. no steering issues, no weird noises, etc.
Oh, and all the tires are new.
AnswerHi Paul,
#1. You have two issues on the brakes that may have two problems. soft brakes can either be air in the system and /or movement in a place there is not suppose to be movement like a brake disk flexing over to one side or a rear shoe flexing.
Start by bleeding the brakes, R/R first, L/R, R/F & L/F last. Don't let it run out of fluid while doing this or you have to start over. ONLY use DOT 4, NOT DOT 3 fluid. If DOT 3 fluid was put into this system you must flush the system with DOT 4.
If you get the spongy feel out and the pedal still slowly goes to the floor you have either a leak on the ground or a bad master cylinder for sure.
If the spongy feel has not went away remove both front wheels and with a strong light look at the relationship of the edge of the disk to the caliper while someone pumps the brakes. You should see no movement. If you do it is probably a frozen piston in one side of the caliper. If this is true, both calipers must be rebuilt. This is the most common cause of spongy brakes on these cars.
#2. Generally a "Speed" related shimmy is wheel balance. If the vibration is mainly in the steering wheel and it is a rotational shaking of the steering wheel too, this also points to balance. If it is road surface related than it is free play somewhere in the front end, ie, shock, suspension or steering. Also check wheel bearings for play as that can cause #1 & #2.
If the front end shaking is in the dash and steering column and up/down, in the steering wheel you need to look at a bad cords in a tire or out of round wheel.
To separate where a problem was I use to find two straight roads (one smooth and the other rough) and two roads with long curves and do the test runs on. Then I would go up to the shaking speed and note if the shaking started at the same speed on each surface.
Same speed on all = balance
Different speeds = loose play somewhere
less shaking on long left turns = left wheel problem
less shaking on right turns = right wheel problem
This is general but has worked for me for many years. and I can say it worked 99% of the time.
