Which has let me know that my Girling Brake servo is leaking badly…white smoke from the exhaust baffled me till I noticed that the brake mastercylinder reserve had emptied itself in minutes!!
So…I have searched Lotuselan.net and seem to have a few options:
New Girling Servo
Rebuild/recon my own Girling Servo
Fit Locheed Servo
Go without a servo
MY QUESTION:
Is there another alternative Servo to using a Girling or Locheed Servo?
… though when I’ve spoken to them about it, thye reckon that half the Girling servos they get back these days are not in a fit state to be reconditioned.
I dropped off my S4’s Girling at Classicar a while back, and they said that a lot of folks are trying to find good Girlings to replace the Lockhheed units…apparently the Lockheed servos aren’t lasting too well and there is the problem with them ‘locking on’ the brakes…which Classicar have overcome.
So Peter, whatever route you take, hang on to your Girling…you may want it rebuilt one day.
Mark
Yes, I had this problem when I fitted a Lockheed servo to my last Elan. It only happened 3 or 4 times shortly after the new servo was fitted and could be ‘cured’ by putting my toe under the brake pedal and lifting it.
I don;t know what the proper, permanent solution is, though, becuase the symptoms disappeared on their own on my car.
I can’t add much to the foregoing, except to ask you to note that there were two different internal bore servos fitted to Elans; one 11/16", with a boost of 1.9:1, and the other 5/8", with a 3:1 boost. The +2 should be 3:1. The details are in the servo pdf post today. Externally they look similar, Classicar even sent me the wrong one !
Peter,
I have stripped and rebuilt my girling servo, its reasonably easy, however you are at the mercy of the condition of your own. I would imagine that since yours has been in regular use it should be fine. Its when they have been laid up and rusted around the pistons that the bores (and vacuum drum)get ruined.
Apparently even the worst servo can be rebuilt successfully. They are re-sleeved with stainless inserts. Probably not cheap but a perm fix. Cannot remember the name of the firm but they advertise regularly in Practical Classics and are based in Grange over Sands nr Morecamble. They’ve been doing this work for years soi should be capable by now!