Girling Pads

[ERA Chas]

Bob,
In my previous question re. Wilwood brake squeal and lack of bite by the rear Girlings, you mentioned that ERA always supplies Girling pads from England. This weekend, in an effort to improve the rear brake situation, I througly bled the rears, removed the pads and de-glazed them with 40 grit alum. oxide and measured them. The pad thickness was a nominal .375". The pad backs were stencilled "DB521 BMXPFF 162930" and the friction material was medium tan in color, sorta like shredded wheat. They were shiney black when they came out of the car. Mike Bontoft supplied these with his ventilated rotor kit. Is this the same part no. you order from Girling? If not, might you know what brand they are?
Thanks,

[Bob Putnam]

Our Lucas pads are black with copper strands and are stenciled with:

Lucas
GDB 557
WVA 20 007 15.50

[ERA Chas]

Thank you, Bob. I will order a set from you if my latest work does not improve the rear brake performance.

[ERA Chas]

Bob,
While performing the above work, I removed the forward pair of rear shocks in order to get a thorough bleed and wrench "swing" on the bleeder. It's easier to work from the side rather than through the cockpit access panel.The difficulty I had was re-installing the shocks. They unload more than the control arm and need to be compressed to line-up with lower attach point. I wound-up using a spring compressor [very frustrating] AND a jack on the bottom of the shock unit [also a pain in the @ce 'cause of the angle]. The coilovers are 350# Aldans. Can you or the boys share your "ERA trick-of-the week" method for an easier way to accomplish this? I said a lot of bad words.
Thanks,

[Bob Putnam]

Disconnect the bottom of the rear shock, then connect the front shock when the control arm is "loose". Then use a jack under the control arm to line the up rear shock. You don't need much pressure. We do this by hand on the bench with the assembly upside down.

[ERA Chas]

THANK YOU ROBERT!