Rear brakes - success!

My new tool arrived for fitting the e-clips on the rear brakes of the mini so I could finally get them built up.

Thankfully fitting the clips with the tool proved a to be a piece of cake, unlike trying to do it without it!

First you fit the e-clip to the tool, above the cone.



Next, you screw the tool into the brake line thread on the wheel cylinder and then tighten the nut on the tool. This forces the cup down over the cone, thus expanding the e-clip.



Keep tightening the nut and the clip gets forced over the wheel cylinder until it snaps into place in the groove on the cylinder.



Finally unscrew the tool from the brake line thread. Job done!

Rear wheel cylinders

My new rear wheel cylinders arrived today, so I'd hoped to make a start in building up the rear brake backplates.

I hit a snag however. The rear wheel cylinders are held in place by circlips (e-clips actually) and they are practically impossible to fit.

I discovered that there's a special tool available to make fitting these easy, so I've ordered one. Hopefully things will go easier once that arrives...

Here's a picture of the nightmare e clip.

New brake backplates

Not much to report today, other than the purchase of some replacement backplates for the rear brakes.

As is common on the Mini, the handbrake adjusters had completely seized on all of my other backplates and rather than mess about trying to free them off I picked up this pair on ebay for £10.