Had some brake issues recently and it’s turned into a longer saga than some of ‘Those’ threads over on general discussion. Started off at Techenders funnily enough when my mate Gaz and me was looking at something or other under his van and then mine. Off the cuff comment from Gaz something along the lines of “Might wanna keep your eye on them there switches, looks like they might be weeping.” “ Oh yeah “ I says and that was that. Couple of weeks later ish another pal notices my remote reservoir is low on fluid, ‘Oh yeah” says I. Tops it up and all is good. A week later on my way to a fab weekend at Tuckers Grave,,,,,,, no brakes Oooohhh. Get him home, jack him up and there’s fluid marks on the switches. Long story short, broke the master cylinder taking the brake light pressure switches off. Then take the master cylinder off and notice that the reducer between the remote pipe and the master cylinder has turned to a gelatinous mush. So order one of those too and a few more bits and bobs. Eventually get the master cylinder in and the brake light switches and the pipes in and the reducer and feed pipe connected up, and filled with fluid and go and have some lunch Come back from lunch ready to have a real close inspection and getting the Gunson out of the box etc and I glance down under the van as I turn the lead light on to be greeted by what looked like a thousand litres of brake fluid on the floor. <<< tiny exaggerator there Not sure if it’s the same on the LateBay but on my early with the remote reservoir, there’s a rubber reducer between the master cylinder and the remote feed pipe which had turned to mush as previously mentioned. This is where the irony and stupidity have knocked me sideways and I still can’t believe that I didn’t look at the other end where the pipe connects to the reservoir because that has a reducer too and that has also turned to a mousse like mush. Bollards, bollards, and bollards again. A new reducer is less than three quid and the postage is six and a half quid, another hoof in the gonads from the postage and packing department for being so stupid. So the upshot of this is I just didn’t inspect it properly, the switches were probably fine and just getting dripped on by these two very old dribblers occasionally making it look bad on the switch covers, if I hadn’t disturbed the switches, my master cylinder ‘may’ have stayed in one piece and I’ve done a load of work that wasn’t at all necessary and I still haven’t got any brakes. I’m waiting for this reducer in the post. So a gentle word of warning , if one is mush, pretty sure the other end will be too, have a good look and a wiggle. Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,,,ready for Sunday hopefully
While in this subject. The pipe clips that hold the feed pipe to the master cylinder are the weirdest ones I’ve ever seen. Sort of like a plastic ring pipe clip moulded to include a chocolate block thats sliced diagonally and connected and tightened by a self tapper type of screw through the choccy block. I’m assuming that this will not let you over tighten this clip to crush the pipes. Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,and only on one end at the master cylinder??
Not sure its related. I have a 74 with no servo. Replaced the master cylinder as it was shot and wanted to replace the McGyver like pipework between the reservoir under the seat, and the one that sits on top of the Master cylinder. No one back then (this is maybe 6 years ago) made a pipe that had the two different Internal diameters and overall length needed. In the end, I reversed the reservoir on top of the master cylinder that opened up a whole new world of 'German' quality rubber. No idea if this helps you, but it sorted things for me when it looked like no off the shelf solution was available.
My late 78 model has the rubber inserts that slide into the flared ends on a solid plastic pipe and the same plastic clamps you describe ozzy The vacuum pipe for the servo also uses the same rubber inserts
I went down the same road as you Oz, i changed the gooey rubber insert at the m/c reservoir end and all was well till i fitted new brake switches, and then realised the the other end needed changing too. Hey Ho!.
I am so glad on one hand that it's not just me. Did yours have a funny clip at each end? Mine only has one at the master cylinder end. Anyway, I thought it’d be a nice idea to bring this to people’s attention as it’s gonna be one of those schooled lessons that may help someone else avoid this marmiting show that I’m acting in right now. Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,getting ready for Sunday
Sorry bud, wasn’t intentional baiting. I’m off to Sloff for the swapmeet or very close by, I believe it’s Newbury race course now. There’ll be a half dozen or so leaving from extra sunny Bristol and hooking up along route to buy a load of crap that we don’t really need and maybe some more spanners or tools that I’ve never seen before that are just bound to come in handy for sumfink or anudder. Then I’ll pay more than I payed for my house for a coffee and a burglar or two. Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,it’s written in the stars
Hope to see you there. Just dont buy a Hazet Beetle spare wheel toolkit complete.. only €965 two years ago. Out in the open on a tabletop..
Hopefully see you there Mike. I’m having ongoing issues. I’ve made a Heath Robinson reservoir out of a funnel and some silicone oil pipe so I can start bleeding my brakes. As with every other bloody thing lately it’s gone wickedly wrong. Started bleeding on the offside front just so I could keep an eye on what was happening then bled the two rears, All great then I spin the nearside front wheel around to find the bleed nipple and there’s fluid running down the wheel and over the tyre . Luckily I’ve bought the front brake rebuild kit from Heritage and that comes with new flexis, new rigid, new shoes and cylinders springs and wheel bearings. I’ve had to go off with Mrs Ozziedog for a meal but I whipped the wheel and drum off before I went out. Cant quite see where it’s leaking but it’s got damp on the shoes , I’m sure I’ll find out tomorrow. Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,, hope Sloff is good
Now I’m curious, as to why I shouldn’t buy it, what’s the matter with it?? Ozziedog,,,,,,,,nice Hazet for 9.65, that’s still less than a tenner.
Funnily enough there are new hoses in with this kit I’ve bought. But I think those Goodrich hoses look a tad sexier than the plain ones in the kit but on the other hand I’ve kindof got used to staring at them on the wall in their little box, so we’ll see. I had absolutely no intention of going this far with it, was supposed to be a simple fix and get the damned thing back on the road and pop along to Sloff and see a few friends etc before the big bearded fat guy wanders in to town, then have a leisurely strip down and service the whole front end after Chrimbledon has been and gone and the big fella has boogied off out of town. I’ve got reinforcements coming this morning as I’ve blackmailed my mate and I told him all he’s got to do is press the pedal a few times,,, it’ll be fine,,, what could go wrong? It’s not like we’re gonna blow the bloody doors off is it. Going on the recent run of events, I don’t even want to think about what ‘could’ go wrong as it’s been a proper disaster at the disco party so far. When this van eventually has some brakes again I reckon it’ll be on CNN or maybe the beeeeb. Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,, off to get some grease,,,,, and another litre of dot 4.
Your brakes will be more precise, with the Goodrich. No flex in them. Put the lines that you got back into the Goodrich box…
Oh dear, oh dear oh dear oh dear. Here’s my nearside drum. Never seen anything quite like this. It looks like a crack but I’m not sure. This is turning into a right fiasco. Reserve troops have arrived and were deep in consultations with mucho coffee too. Ozziedog,,,,,,,, I’m looking for a new pair of drums it looks like.
It does look cracked. Good that your problems lead to seeing that - every cloud and all that - everything is cheaper than a prang and only your wallet will get hurt.
