126 Brakes

[rick]

The brakes on my 126 are, to put it mildly, crap. Without going to the expense of a disc brake conversion is there anything I can do to improve the existing drum brake set up?

[Gadge]

How about a plain old rebuild? Generally I've found a drum brake set up perfectly adequate for the 126 (just  ) you may find that perhaps a strip down and fit some new shoes and wheel cylinders and a bleed might be all they need to be tip top again  

[DeVilleChris]

Mine werent great, I bought new drums, cylinders, shoes all round. reset the handbrake, a bit of copper grease around inside and put it all back together, think all in all it cost me around £120 for everything. Works fine now.

[rick]

Thank you chaps, did all that during the re-build. I can make it stop, eventually, but Wife is not happy!
I did notice, however, that the new brake shoes I got from Recambio are slightly narrower than the originals. Just wondered if the later BIS versions had bigger brakes?

[DeVilleChris]

not sure on that but I got all mine from local stockist "Andrew Page" and they were brilliant, they got the correct year for everything in all NOS, cylinders, shoes and drums all AI lockheed. if you want things like that 126 fan are quite good and not too expensive, i've found ricambio to be very good if you want the items quick but are a little on the pricey side.

I dont buy from these but...

http://www.fiatclassic.com/HTML126/KATA126U.HTM#brake system

they seem to give you a good idea of what is available and what part numbers and such are, 1st series or 2nd etc etc. may help you with your brakes issue if they are different parts?

I'm not sure..

Good luck anyway! 

[rick]

Thank you for your help. Yes I have long considered Ricambio to be a little on the pricy side.

[Gadge]

Cinqucento/seicento will also fit as there the same so any auto spares stockist should be able to supply you with some or eBay of course