When I restored my Sprite I thought I would do a smart thing by using
a hose from the clutch slave cylinder up to a convenient place in the
engine compartment to bleed the clutch cylinder. That way I could
bleed the slave cylinder from the top rather than from the underside.
That worked - for two years. Last weekend I wanted to go for a ride
but I couldn't get the tranny in gear - any gear. I thought that was
odd since I have used the car since the long winter nap with no
problems. I got under the car and with the assistance of my wife
discovered no mechanical problems. The cylinder and hose were dry -
no leaks and all the hardware was in place. So, I suspected perhaps
air in the system even though I could see the push rod moving some as
my wife pressed the pedal. I was so happy that I could bleed the
cylinder from the top and mentally gave myself a pat on the back for
installing the hose. What came out of the bleeder was a coffee
colored liquid - not anything like the Castrol LMA I put in. I
conclude what happened was that the hose is disintegrating and that
"goop" is settling into the slave cylinder because the hose is
essentially vertical. The goop is causing some "piston stickum." I
rule out (with X degree of certainty) the rubber seal IN the cylinder
because 1) I purchased the rebuild kit decades ago so it's probably
not a foreign made part. 2) With some fiddling I got the car working
3) there were no leaks evident externally, 4) the line is all metal
from the pedal box to the slave cylinder.
The Hose
The hose has an interesting history and I could tell a long story
including a side story about buried treasure (7 barrels of sliver),
but this story is already getting long. I got three brake line hoses
from a guy, Carlos Wenberg (Google his name for the treasure story -
if you get a newspaper page from Lima, N.Y. you are close) who must
have had a British Leyland garage at one time. He drove a Land Rover
and I think I can remember a Rover car in the story and BL signs in
his shop. His current endeavor, in the '70's, was building a
prototype, totally hydraulic snow removal truck for airports. A huge
engine on the rear ran a BIG pump that powered the vehicle and rotary
snow thrower. Anyhow, he gave my three brake line hoses (two with
part numbers 3700631 and a 538814 - BL numbers??) I received the
hoses in about the '70's and they had probably been in his possession
for 20 years or longer - do the math.
I plan to replace the hose with a metal line, bleed the slave
cylinder 'til I get clear fluid and hope that the internal rubber
seal is OK. The fluid in the master cylinder is nice and clean so I
have some reason for hope.
Now. . . I have two NOS brake line hoses left and they are for sale
- see numbers above. Antique hoses even. They don't fit a Spridget -
you have to figure out what they do fit. These are the kind of
antique that is better put in a display case rather than on your car.
Just let me know if you are interested! LOL
Tim Collins
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12702006@N07/
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