Can this be said on the list?

[dan.bubb at gmail.com (Dan Bubb)]

Two thoughts:
1. there are no star nuts on Scirocco drum brakes. There is only a
tapered pin with serations on one side that is pulled down by a spring
as allowed by the brake shoes moving out. I don't believe there is any
braking backwards procedure, you just brake and as the shoe moves out
the tapered pin pulls down setting the clearance. Would be important
to get the tapered pin installed correctly cause the serations hold it
from moving up and letting the shoes move away from the drums.
2. Most of the problems associated with difficult parking brake
adjustment are due to having the wrong cables, or I suppose, stretched
cables. Also, make sure they are correctly routed around the rounded
pulley type guides on the bottom of the hand brake lever.

On a personal note after fucking around with the calipers on my POS
16V rear brakes and then pitching for A3 calipers so I'd know they
worked long term and having to put up with removing them to bleed them
up side down and THEN still not have the car brake as well as either
my 84 or my nephew's 86 with rear drums, despite the difficulty of
working on the drums I would never bother with a rear disc conversion
(except for the bling, bling, of course ;^)
Dan

On 9/5/05, Jim Ruffi <sciroccos@earthlink.net> wrote:
> Yeah, drum brakes suck ass.
> They'll only work properly if you get 'em adjusted first...
> 
> With the wheels on and the car in the air (parking brake off):
> 
> Loosen the parking brake cable adjusters.
> 
> 1. Adjust the star nuts on the adjusters until the back brakes lock up, then
> back them off a little until you can just spin the tires.  To adjust, use a
> medium screwdriver though the hole in the backing plate (remove the rubber
> plug)
> 
> 2. Pump the brakes a few times to get the whole thing seated....maybe pull
> the brake lever and release, then pump again.
> 
> 3.      Check the tires again.  You want them to just begin to spin freely.  A
> little bit of resistance is fine.
> 
> Repeat 1-3 as needed.
> 
> Adjust parking brake cables.
> 
> HTH
> 
> Jim
> 
> 
> 
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: scirocco-l-bounces+sciroccos=earthlink.net@scirocco.org
> >[mailto:scirocco-l-bounces+sciroccos=earthlink.net@scirocco.org]On
> >Behalf Of Julie Macfarlane
> >Sent: Monday, September 05, 2005 4:25 PM
> >To: scirocco-l@scirocco.org
> >Subject: Can this be said on the list?
> >
> >
> >fuck drum brakes.
> >I have spent 5 hours working on the damn things. Brake cables were
> >the easy
> >part. Replaced the shoes as well as all the hardware.
> >It stops. But I think by fronts only.
> >Set the brake cable for grip on the rears? And the cable is almost at the
> >end of adjustment and no god damn grip.
> >
> >Can you tell I am tired and pissed?
> >
> >I am tired of this crap today. I dont even want to drive the thing.
> >
> >Julie Macfarlane
> >"Its not just a car! Its an adventure!"
> >1981 MKI 2L 16v w 2Y
> >Amsterdam NY
> >
> >
> >
> >_______________________________________________
> >Scirocco-l mailing list
> >Scirocco-l@scirocco.org
> >http://neubayern.net/mailman/listinfo/scirocco-l
> 
> 
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