Ownership / Brakes

Brakes

The Stag's brakes are a conventional, effective servo-assisted set-up — discs at the front, drums at the rear — but they have a couple of well-known weak spots, the handbrake chief among them.

The system

The Stag uses Girling hydraulic brakes with vacuum servo assistance, arranged as a dual circuit: solid discs at the front and drums at the rear. There is nothing exotic here, and nothing that should intimidate an owner used to cars of the period. In health the system gives good stopping power for the era — a Stag with sound hydraulics, fresh fluid and a working servo pulls up straight and with a firm, progressive pedal. When a Stag brakes badly it is almost always because something has been left to age, not because the design is inadequate.

The handbrake

The Stag's rear-drum handbrake is a perennial MOT weakness, and the single fault most likely to catch an owner out. The mechanism, the adjusters and the cables all seize with age and disuse, so the lever goes slack, comes up to the roof, or simply will not hold the car on a slope. The cure is unglamorous but effective: free off and lubricate the mechanism, check the cables for corrosion and fraying, and set the rear-drum adjusters correctly. Above all, keep it exercised — a handbrake that is used regularly is far less likely to seize than one left off all winter.

Common faults

The recurring items on a car of this age are corroded steel brake pipes and perished flexible hoses — both age-related and both safety-critical, so judge them on condition and age rather than on how the pedal happens to feel today. Beyond the plumbing, expect seized caliper pistons, tired rear wheel cylinders, servo failure showing itself as a soft or unusually heavy pedal, and a weeping master cylinder. Renew the fluid every couple of years: it is hygroscopic, and old fluid quietly lowers the temperature at which the pedal goes long.

Keeping them safe

The recipe is short: fresh fluid, sound pipes and hoses, and a free-moving handbrake. Get those three right and the Stag's braking system is a strength rather than a worry. Brakes are safety-critical — have anything you are unsure of checked by a specialist, and confirm specifications against the Stag workshop manual.