The front brakes are conventional. The rear brakes aren’t.

The rear brakes are inboard discs, attached to the transmission. The handbrake works the calipers by a complex mechanism which is inside each caliper. And the calipers are very inaccessible. Oh joy !

My car suffered from appalling brakes. This seems to have been caused by neglect rather than anything else. The (expensive) cure was to replace almost every brake component. Ouch.

Front brakes

The first thing I had to do to the car was to get it to stop safely. There was little braking power, and it pulled to one side.

The front calipers seemed to be leaking slightly. Further inspection revealed worn pads, corroded pipes and perished flexi hoses.
Fortunately, the front calipers are simple enough to repair:

1. Slacken the wheel nuts, jack and support the car and remove the road wheel.
2. Remove the two caliper mounting bolts and lift the caliper off the disc.
3. Pump the brake pedal to push the pistons nearly all the way out.
4. Disconnect the brake hose, and cap the open ends (a bleed nipple dust cover works well).
5. Now put the caliper on the bench. You should be able to remove the pistons by hand. 
6. Extract the dust seal retaining rings and keep them, as you probably won’t get new ones in the repair kit.
7. Remove the dust seal and piston seal, and clean everything with brake component cleaner (or methylated spirit). The insides need to be absolutely spotless.
8. Inspect the piston and caliper carefully for any scoring, corrosion, etc. Very slight rust on the pistons is probably OK. If in doubt, renew the caliper complete.
9. Carefully fit new piston seals, lubricate with brake fluid, and slide the pistons into place.
10. Align the pistons so that the recess faces against the direction of rotation. 
11. Now fit the dust seals and retaining rings.
12. Refit the caliper and pads, and reconnect the brake hose.
13. Bleed the system, and road test the car.

The brake discs were in good condition, but I fitted a new set of pads.

Note that the pad retaining pins are extracted inovers towards the centre of the car. They should tap out with a punch, but if they are seized solid (like mine were), you will need a combination of penetrating oil, a (gentle) heat source and lots of patience. They did free eventually, but the pins were badly bent and corroded so I had to replace them.

The calipers are prone to sticking, which results in soggy brakes. It’s well worth taking the pads out at each service and making sure the pistons move freely.

I fitted new brake pipes and flexi hoses too. I didn’t want the car off the road for long, so I bought genuine pipes and hoses. It’s much cheaper to get the pipes made up at a local motor shop, and you can get aftermarket steel braided hoses much cheaper than the OEM items.