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Re: Bugeye rear brake upgrade and clutch problems.

To: macleans@earthlink.net, boxweed@thebest.net
Subject: Re: Bugeye rear brake upgrade and clutch problems.
From: Bryan Vandiver <Bryan.Vandiver@Eng.Sun.COM>
Date: Fri, 16 Jul 1999 10:05:07 -0700 (PDT)
Cc: spridgets@autox.team.net
Reply-to: Bryan Vandiver <Bryan.Vandiver@Eng.Sun.COM>
Sender: owner-spridgets@autox.team.net
I had checked into getting new stainless pre-bent lines from a place listed in 
Hemmings. That was about a year ago. At that time I think the price they quoted 
me was about $120 for the brakes, and an addition $40 for the clutch line. I 
can't remember the name of the place, but I'm sure I could find it again if 
necessary.

One caveat though, I think they may 'fold' some of the longer lines in half for 
shipping purposes, (kind of ruins the whole point of getting nicely prebent 
lines), so you may want to verify this before you order.

 - Bryan 
(new to the list as of this week, and hope to have my bugeye on the road next 
week)
 
>To: "Mike Maclean" <macleans@earthlink.net>
>Cc: "spridgets list" <spridgets@autox.team.net>
>Subject: Re: Bugeye rear brake upgrade and clutch problems.
>MIME-Version: 1.0 charset="iso-8859-1"
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>
>I didn't know you could buy pre-bent brake lines for Spridgets anywhere.
>How does one get ahold of these from Classic Tube?  ie, Does anyone know how
>to order them (phone #, address, e-mail, or ?)
>
>Thanks in advance,
>Bob
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Mike Maclean <macleans@earthlink.net>
>To: Bryan Vandiver <Bryan.Vandiver@Eng.Sun.COM>
>Cc: spridgets@autox.team.net <spridgets@autox.team.net>
>Date: Thursday, July 15, 1999 2:45 PM
>Subject: Re: Bugeye rear brake upgrade and clutch problems.
>
>
>>Bryan,
>>   In my experience, you should NOT flush the brake lines with anything
>other than
>>brake fluid.  If there is still too much gunk inside, you might consider
>new steel
>>brake lines.  Not as daunting a task as it sounds.  There are several
>options
>>available to replace them.  You can get them bre-bent from Classic Tube,
>get a kit
>>of lines from Moss Motors that you bend into shape by copying the original
>lines or
>>you can buy a flaring tool from MiniMania and Classic tube will sell you
>any length
>>of 1/8th steel tubing and make your own kit.
>>     As to the synthetic brake fluid, if you are using Lockheed RUBBER
>parts in your
>>master cylinder and slave cylinders, you might be experiencing swelling of
>the
>>rubber.  Synthetic fluid and rubber parts don't seem to mix very well.
>>     If you go back and flush the system out a couple of times with Castrol
>LMA
>>Brake Fluid, rebuild the master cylinder and slave cylinders with new
>rubber kits
>>and use the Castrol fluid exclusively, I think your brake problem will be
>solved.
>>Mike MacLean-60 Sprite
>>
>>Bryan Vandiver wrote:
>>
>>> Hello,
>>>
>>> I'm just putting the finishing touches on my bugeye restoration project,
>and
>>> have run into some issues with the rear brakes, and clutch.
>>>
>>> I am using a rebuilt 7/8 inch dual master, that was bead-blasted, and
>honed. I
>>> cleaned out all the brake and clutch lines with carb cleaner, and then
>blew them
>>> out with compressed air. Since I was upgrading to front disk brakes, I
>thought
>>> it would be best to upgrade the rear as well, so I pulled the brake
>backing
>>> plates off a '78 rb midget (as well as the parking brake linkages), and
>>> installed a new set of 3/4" brake cylinders. I am using my 'original'
>bearing
>>> hubs, and brake drums ( dated 7/58). once I installed everything, and
>bolted on
>>> the wheels, I noticed a lot of binding on the rear wheels ( in fact, I
>could
>>> barely push the car out of the garage). After taking off both drums, they
>both
>>> appear to be contacting the later brake backing plates. I compared my
>early
>>> brake drums to later ones, and they have the same exact distance from the
>back
>>> lip of the drum to the mounting surface. Has anyone done this, or run
>into this
>>> problem??
>>>
>>> As for the clutch...
>>> This is the 'stiffest' clutch I have experience in any car, is that
>typical of
>>> sprites??
>>> I have a ribcase trans, but the new clutch slave cylinder is the 'early
>style'
>>> 7/8" (moss 180-655), to be compatible with my original clutch line and
>master.
>>> All other clutch components are '1275 type' including the slave cyl
>'push-rod'.
>>> The 'new' clutch kit was part# COM710/kit from MiniMania.
>>> Besides being very tough to bleed, are these clutches really that hard to
>>> disengage? I can't imaging driving with this in traffic!
>>>
>>> BTW - I am using 'sythetic brake fluid' since I am using all new
>components, and
>>> all lines were'flushed' first.
>>>
>>> Regards - Bryan Vandiver (San Jose, CA)
>


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