The brakes on my Rossa feel like lumps of wood and although it hasn't been on the road to bed them in yet I can't see them improving that much. I suspect the problem may be down to the dual circuit master cylinder I have fitted being meant for a car with a servo (I used this one because of it's lower height) so needing legs of steel to make it effective. If things don't improve I'm thinking about fitting a remote servo as per early Minis etc but the ads all say that it is suitable for single line systems only. I have mine plumbed as per the Metro manual so that one circuit does all four wheels and the other one does the front ones only (I've double checked that I have got the connections correct at the cylinder - the lower one goes to four wheels ). I can't see why I can't fit the servo to the four wheel circuit leaving the front wheel circuit unservoed (after all on single citcuit systems there is no back up anyway). Does this sound OK to the experts out there and has anybody done it already? Comments much appreciated, thanks

Hi Raymond
I fitted a dual circuit remote servo to my wife's Rossa.
Works really well but you need to be very careful in the wet.
The servo was from Stafford Vehicle Components in Tamworth
but I don't know if they're still available.

Hi Alan. That's interesting - I didn't know that you could get a dual circuit remote servo. I had a look on ebay for such a thing before making my post but drew a blank. I've checked Stafford Vehicle Components website and they still list it (at £295....) but it's temporarily unavailable. Cracking lead - thanks

Hi
Take a look at RH5272 a GT6 Brake servo kit from Rimmer Bros @£138 inc VAT
I have used these on a numbers of cars needing a bit of pedal assistance,note by fitting one just on the front circuit can upset the front to rear brake balance.
Most of the braking is provided up front so this is normally not an issue.

REGARDS piltv40

Cheers - I've had a look at that and it looks the same as the Mini ones but they do say that it's a universal servo with a fitting kit as appropriate. The way my brakes are plumbed means that if I fitted this kit all 4 wheels would be boosted while the secodary system to the front only wouldn't be so I think it should be OK...........unless somebody knows differently.

if your brakes are plumbed in like the early metro that had two brake hoses to each front caliper i think you idea would cause un even pressure on pistons in the caliper i used to work at rover dealer years ago but can't remember how the two systems are divided inside the caliper this could cause the pads to wear more on one side than the other are wear like wedges if the top pistons do more work than the lower un assisted part of system you need to work out how the caliper is divided to work out what the effect will be.

Hi again
You should only servo assist the pair of front brakes on the primary circuit. The secondary circuit should go to the rear which may have a pressure sensitive regulator to prevent rear brake lock up.

If you have split diagonal breaking you have to use two servos, one in each for the two front and back circuits.

With two servo's you can use one for the front and one for the rear of the dual circuit configuration this will restore the brake balance if needed.

The lockheed servos are universal but watch out for Metric and UNF btake pipe fittings,dont forget a non return valve in the vacuum line. On A series engines you can use one which is intergral with the manifold connector. THe ones supplied with the kit are in line.

REGARDS PiltV40

As mentioned in one of the posts if you have the metro 4 pot calipers ,you are best off geting a pipe conversion kit to eliminate the dual hoses to each caliper. then plumb it for front and back circuits. Mini spares and Rally Designs used to do these pipe kits.
I have found even the 8.4" non ventilated discs with standard calipers with the appropiate pads provide effective braking for road use.

Best of luck Pilt 40

Hi. Thanks for your comments As mentioned above I have plumbed my brakes the same way as they were on the Metro donor car so the primary circuit goes to all 4 wheels while the secondary goes to the front only. Are you suggesting that I should change that? Hands up, I stuck with it because I don't know enough about braking to start altering things and also, because of the way that they're plumbed, I can't use the conversion kit on the front calipers - one connection is primary circuit and the other is secondary. Another thing I have to keep in mind is that the car still has to go for IVA and I have to keep the testers happy too If I plumb a servo into the primary circuit it will boost all 4 wheels as in a Mini and there will be a back up of an unservoed secondary circuit to the front - does that sound reasonable? Ultimately, the servo is only going to reduce pedal pressure which it will do without altering the balance, I suppose, but I wonder if the unservoed secondary circuit will affect it.

Maybe I should swallow hard, get a dual circuit servo and plumb it using the primary circuit from the Metro master cylinder for the front wheels (using a conversion kit on the callipers so only one pipe needed) and the secondary from the master cylinder for the rear. I think that should also satisfy IVA requirements. My brain hurts................