Front brake disc stone guard.

[englishmaninwales]

Front suspension overhaul in progress, ‘66 S3 Coupe

What’s the general consensus of opinion on the inner brake disc stone guard? Had a search on here, but couldn’t find any reference to deleting them. The ones on mine are 50 + years old and tatty but are serviceable (plus some POR15 for appearances), new ones are not available.

I guess many don’t bother re-fitting them at all ?
Thanks
Malcolm

[Andy8421]

Same as Triumph Spitfire? I am surprised they are not carried by the usual suspects - Rimmer / Moss? If not, there is a gentleman on eBay selling some stainless steel copies.

It is common for competition Elans not to fit the backplate to aid cooling. I assume Girling / Triumph / Colin thought it worth fitting them for road use. This website thinks they are very worthwhile:

https://www.yourmechanic.com/article/top-3-reasons-brake-dust-shields-are-necessary

[englishmaninwales]

Thanks Andy, I must admit I didn’t look on Rimmer’s website - I will do so. I was just repeating what Sue Miller told me.
Malcolm

[richardcox_lotus]

I looked last year and they were available from Rimmers in stainless or not.

Good luck
R

[oldelanman]

S J Sportscars list stainless ones too ...

https://www.sjsportscars.com/parts-and- ... C6019Z.htm

[Frogelan]

I remember being told by older and wiser folks with respect to my MGB to retain them.

I dutifully restored and fitted them and indeed they did their job of keeping the brakes hot and smokey (in winter on a regularity rally).

Needless to say they were very quickly recycled and I would suggest you do the same!

[Bigbaldybloke]

I was lucky enough to be working on a petrochemical construction site where they were installing lots of lagging on pipes and cladding it with stainless steel some years ago. The laggers happily made me new replica stainless ones copied from the old rusty one I gave them. Still on the car many years later.

[2cams70]

In Australia at least you make the car illegal for road use if you remove the backplates

[rgh0]

In Australia at least you make the car illegal for road use if you remove the backplates

I have never seen that in any regulations that apply to 1960 Elans ? Where does that come from ? i still have my back plates and may need to refit them if I ever need to go for a roadworthy check

cheers
Rohan

[englishmaninwales]

I thought there were rules for everything in Oz

Thanks for the info above, just need to decide replace/refurbish/ditch.
Malcolm

[rgh0]

I thought there were rules for everything in Oz

Thanks for the info above, just need to decide replace/refurbish/ditch.
Malcolm

Post 1972 when the ADRs were introduced ( Australian designs rules) there have been many increasing rules around registration and allowed modifications. I have never researched braking system changes and what's allowed. I don't believe any rules existed for pre 1972 cars in this area.

cheers
Rohan

[2cams70]

The simple general rule as far as brakes are concerned is that if the manufacturer fitted these parts originally you will be rendering the car unroadworthy if you then subsequently remove them. It varies according to jurisdiction and country of course so my advice to you would be to contact you local vehicle registration authority first before you contemplate removing them (if you wish to stay legal that is). This is covered under vehicle "in service" regulations enforced by whoever the registration authority happens to be.

"In service" vehicle regulations are sometimes different to vehicle "design regulations" (eg. ECE (Europe), ADR (Australia), FMVSS (USA)).

"Design regulations" apply to the vehicle both before and after release to market. In service regulations apply to after release only.

To use the brake backplate example - even if the vehicle is not required by design regulation to have brake back plates fitted under "in service" regulations it may still require them if the manufacturer fitted them as original equipment. If you are in the UK it may be the MOT authorities that prevent you from removing backplates.

Vehicle homologation for an OEM is a major part of my day job by the way.

[rgh0]

Brake backing plates do not appear to be a defined brake component in the ADRs ( e.g. they talk about all other things bolted to the suspension typically considered braking components except backing plates) and modifications allowed or not in braking systems made up of these components. They same applies when you look at suspension components As far as the ADRs are concerned they do not appear to be a regulated part of the braking or suspension system

Elans are pre ADR cars in any case at least in Victoria as ADR implementation timing was state based from 1969 onwards and my understanding is the initial ADRs were implemented progressively in the early 70's in Victoria.

Components not covered by ADRs are allowed to be generally modified without certification within limits in service and there are generally approved allowed modifications to components that are covered by ADRs in addition also in service. Nothing appears to ban removal of backing plates explicitly or implicitly as they are just not covered that I can find for Victoria at least

All this is a complex web of rules and regulation covered by both federal and state laws and differs from state to state in Australia and age of car and exactly what you are talking about I am glad it not my job to try to interpret it all

[2cams70]

Nothing appears to ban removal of backing plates explicitly or implicitly as they are just not covered that I can find for Victoria at least

Yes that seems the case for Victoria on re-reading the regulations. It may have slipped the net and the inspector still has the right to reject of course! As a general rule however you cannot degrade the performance (and of course there's a debate on that with backplates) of a safety related item even if that item wasn't mandated in the original design regulations. For example you can't have a non-functioning airbag in a vehicle originally fitted with airbags that wasn't mandated to have airbags originally.

All this is a complex web of rules and regulation covered by both federal and state laws and differs from state to state in Australia and age of car and exactly what you are talking about I am glad it not my job to try to interpret it all

Yes it can be a real PITA. You really have to pity overseas parent company homologation engineers where English isn't their first language trying to design a vehicle for a foreign market