Recently had my '76TR6 painted. Urethane base coat - clear coat.
The MCs were cleaned up, PCed and rebuilt. Following advice from the list,
converted to silicon fluid to protect the body paint as well as the new
paint job on the brake servo.
Managed to spill some fluid when refilling and bleeding the two systems. No
problem, wiped it up and then washed off residue with soap and water.
A few days later noted a small leak at one of the inputs to the PDWA.
Tightening the fitting fixed it. Then tried to clean up the purple fluid.
It wouldn't come off! The white paint was stained purple! The paint
wasn't soft like with spilled mineral based fluid. However, the purple
accent looked terrible. Repair was accomplished buy sanding with 1000 -
1500 - 2000 grit and then rubbing compound & buffing. Fortunately the area
affected was small. (I also think the painter skipped the clear coat in the
engine compartment which might make a difference.)
This is probably not a problem if your car is purple, and don't think it
will be a problem on my other two --- one soon to be BRG & the other red.
Before doing the fluid conversion I mixed small quantities of the DOT4 &
the silicone to see what would happen. (I didn't plan to flush my system,
just drain it & blow it clear with air. Was curious what would happen when
any remaining DOT4 came in contact with the silicone.) A few hours later
they were completely separated and all the purple dye from the silicone
fluid had migrated to the DOT4 fluid. My guess is that the dye is added to
the silicone fluid to identify it. It is also my guess that things don't
mix well with the silicone and the dye separates easily. Think I'll make
some clear silicone fluid by washing a quart with a pint of DOT 4, and then
separating them and discarding the purple DOT4. ( I tried washing the
silicone with water --- didn't work, the fluids separated but the dye stayed
in the silicone fluid.)
Nelson Riedel
Granville, OH
76 TR6 (just painted, now repairing damage from fender bender)
68 TR250 (next project - new paint)
70 TR6 (all the parts in a pile ready to assemble)
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