Thanks Rob .

Just curious, has anyone used Iridium or titanium spark plugs in their grey motors ? and what if any benefit was found . apart from releasing moths from your wallet . cheers .

Thanks very much for that Rob , very informative from the original author. I have a good earth point now to the sender and I believe the gauge reading has improved since . If not I’ll go down the road shown in the link . Cheers , John .

Does anyone know if a original fuel tank sender can be refurbished? ie that it can opened up ,& recalibrated using a multimeter . one of the first replies to my initial question mentioned OHMS in terms of resistance , do the numbers ,33ohms in the full position & 2 ohms in the empty position (approximately) seem about right for our cars ? getting to the inside of the sender would only be necessary if there was a internal problem . Cheers , JOHN .

Thanks Rob .

Thanks Errol 62 . For your info . I suppose to be realistic with the fuel sloshing around even with a baffle in the tank , the fuel gauge needle would move around a bit .

Thanks dr Terry . Well I disconnected the sender wire this morning & earthed it adjacent to the sender ,being only a short bit of wire & fuel gauge definitely indicates full. I’ve now run a earth wire from a sender screw to a rear light holder screw to earth it . Which then indicated quarter full on the gauge ,about what’s in the tank. Anyway obviously I’m no expert .LOL .I’ll wait for my mate to return & get his advice as well .thanks .John .

I have been having fluctuating fuel gauge readings for sometime now , have taken out sender ( original) everything moves ok , a mate of mine said to try taking off the wire from the sender & earth it ,turn on ignition & the fuel gauge should read full , which it does . he’s not available at the moment ,what does this mean & how do I sort it . I can run another wire from one of the screws to a suitable earth point but how does that stop the gauge from reading full even though it’s, say half full . Could also be a problem under the dash . Any help would great . Cheers John .

Meeting with a plastic / Perspex ) co shortly to see if they are interested in replicating mine , as is one that’s been one the car since almost build time . Depends wether the cost of mould etc prohibits .  Will see .

Hi Vern , thanks for the reply , yes as you said in the workshop manual page 113 brakes section 5-1 no 6 bolt & spacer assembly was very tight & although the old shoes seemed to come off ok the replacements would not fit in position until we slackend off the bolt,once both arms were on it was just nipped up slightly . The originals like I said were stuck solid with surface rust . The new ones we buffed up & applied the grease to moving parts . I’m starting to believe some movement however slight is required.the combination of both things mentioned are looking hopefully to have been the source of my problem . The #8 pin assembly. Brake shoe link was also cleaned up & grease applied. Also the four points of contact on the backing plates . Anyway she is still behaving her self . No grabbing at all .   Still don’t understand the wiping down of the brake drum stopped it grabbing too ? Who cares . LOL . That’s another story . Will post further down the track .cheers.

Still looking good , brakes are no longing grabbing ,several days of not driving . As I put on previously we greased all the moving parts , or parts that should have some sort of movement & it’s all looking good . Please  let it be true . Will keep in touch with results down the the road . Cheers .

Just a quick note , after over a week of cool to cold mornings and rain . I figured it was time to give the old girl a run around the block , wonders never cease , no grabbing at all , after all this time hopefully it’s sorted.(still not convinced LOL ). But with all that was done recently I think we’re on the right track . Cheers John .

Thanks Vern &  Doug, I’ll get back on here with the results , fingers crossed .

Well ,today we put the car on the hoist ,wheels off .drums off & took off the shoes ,so with the new shoes & linings at 3/16” thick we had to take out the cir clip on the bottom pivot point spring & reinstate on the new shoes .it was noticed that everything needed a wire brushing & red grease to get things moving again , the main adjusting bolt at the bottom where the slotted arms join meet on the right hand in particular had to be readjusted or slackened off to get them on . Not the case on the left hand side that was ok .which rang bells . Everything may have been a bit tight on the right ( the problem brake ) so the chamfer on the lining ends are correct .  I told my mate that this is all ok but why after just wiping the inside of the drum it worked fine ?? Anyway wheels back on ,brakes adjusted , away we went down the road , got up to speed , knock it out gear ,hands off steering wheel & brake hard , it didn’t veer at all .beautiful . I’m still not convinced .so there’s some cool weather on the way & I’m not going to drive it for a week , so that will test it , &. Are me a happy man if it has sorted the problem. PLEASE ,,,, cheers  John

Hi Rob , I know what you mean , but why only on the r/h/s ? 0n the way to the Canberra nats we got caught up in some really horrible weather rain wise & sure enough when we took off that morning bang went the Rhs brake again . Doesn’t make sense . Cheers John .

Thank you everyone, I was having a beer with my mate this Arfo & explained again the problem, he went over what he believed was the issue, but was at a loss when I said that I could try to stop the grabbing on the right front. Wheel up & down my drive for maybe 10 minutes , finally giving up & take the wheel off , brake drum off ,a quick wipe down of the inside face .drum & wheel on & Bobs your uncle & away I went no problems.  A contaminated lining ? .I have swapped brake drums to no avail .we are going to replace the shoes & linings ( with the correct 3/16” thickness ) check flexible hoses again & the steel main line for obstruction. It’s something staring us in the face . Probably find it , then they’ll take my license off me because I. Too old .    We will prevail . Cheers John .

Well , thanks Rob & Vern , very informative, it seems strange it’s just the front r/h wheel , the linings are from a company called Brake Bonders . as I mentioned the linings are a little out of spec thickness wise but when it’s going ok I have no problem . The return springs were mentioned , but I doubt replacements can be found nowadays in the event they contribute to the problem. The car is under cover & yes it can get damp in there. Don’t laugh but I might try out of curiosity my heat gun (carefully) if the car hasn’t been used for a few days & I know it’s going to lock up .    You would have thought others would be having similar problems? anyway, I have a complete set of shoes with 3/16” linings if I go down that track ,& try what you suggested ROB .many thanks .cheers John .

No doubt it , it seems oddly enough once I wipe it down , the drum , like this morning , it was ok

I’ve put this on before. & I thought I’d solved the problem the front driver side locks up badly when I first want to use the car & only in the morning , more so on these colder , damp days this time of the year . A mate of mine who has a FC & very mechanically minded has been working on the car for several years & I think he’s starting wonder what the problem is . Some days it can take several minutes up & down the drive to usually stop the locking up ..( I use the car very frequently) on a previous morning & today I jacked the car up & took off the brake drum.& wiped down the inner machined surface ,& that corrected the problem. But you can’t keep taking the wheel off every time you want to take the car out .  The L/H front & rear brakes are ok .   Now I’ve noticed that the brake drums are original ID ie 9” they have not been machined .I’ve had the car since 1978.(you would I would have it sorted by now ) so the thickness of the linings should be 3/16” . The linings that are on it now are more like 1/4” so there’s not much movement in the brake pedal when braking . The l/h front is the same thickness but no problems , I was thinking of replacing the shoes & linings to the correct thickness ,this problem was going on even at the Toowoomba nationals,the fact that once I wipe down the drum seems to help seems strange . Anyway if anyone has had a similar experience I’d love to hear if or how it was solved , cheers John .

Thanks Zulu,