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Re: Clutch Fluid Pipe

To: Tustin <tustin@xmission.com>
Subject: Re: Clutch Fluid Pipe
From: Barry Schwartz <bschwart@pacbell.net>
Date: Tue, 08 Sep 1998 10:57:42 -0700
>Does anybody know what the purpose of the spirals are for in the master 
>cylinder-to-slave cylinder pipe?  And, are they important?  My '67 had 
>three spirals in it, while I looked in my friend's '70, which only has one. 
> I replaced that original pipe this weekend with one that I formed, but it 
>was too short to put any spirals in and I'm wondering if that's something I 
>need to worry about.  Thanks in advance!
*****************************************
Yep they are in there for a very good reason.  These coils (about 1-1/2 or
2 inches in dia) are there for stress relief.  Since there is no flexible
hose, and the engine/tranny move with vibration, engine torque, loading,
and you have only a rigid line connecting the slave cylinder to the master
cylinder, you need a way to allow this movement without stressing the
connections or the hose itself.  It's achieved in this application
(Spitfire/GT6) by inserting a couple of coils to act like a spring of sorts
to absorb the slight movement between the engine vibrating/torque movement
and stationary body.  In most other applications a flexible (read
eventually wears or rots out) hose is used.  That's one advantage of using
a solid connection, nothing to wear out or burst when you least expect it.
I would redo the pipe and put the coils back in.  If you don't the added
stress will eventually crack the pipe somewhere-


Barry Schwartz (San Diego) bschwart@pacbell.net
72 V6 Spitfire (daily driver)
70 GT6+ (when I don't drive the Spit)
70 Spitfire

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