Wow.... I think it's DOT 5 for me when the TR250 goes back together.
Don Malling
Phil Beckman wrote:
> This weekend I went out to do some work on my car and while I had my
> head under the dashboard I noticed that the paint on the firewall behind
> the pedals was wrinkled as if brake fluid had gotten on it. I popped
> the hood and looked around under there and found that the rear seal on
> the brake master cylinder had apparently given up the ghost. Brake
> fluid was everywhere. The owrst of this is that it ran down the
> firewall, and pooled in the area where the bolt for the frontmost body
> mount is. From there it leaked through that hole and ran down between
> the frame rails and the body and back towards the rear of the car for
> about 3 feet. Paint on the frame and underside of the body is peeling
> off, paint on the inside of the firewall in the passenger compartment is
> peeling. Its quite a good mess.
>
> I took out the brake master, the power brake servo, the clutch master,
> the carpeting inside, the pedal block and pulled the wiring harness back
> into the interior. This was all just to clear the area up so I can
> clean and repaint the mess. Thankfully when I restored the car 10 years
> ago the entire car was primed in zinc-chromate primer which was not
> affected by the brake fluid but quite a bit of blue paint is peeling off
> my car.
>
> Now that I've disassembled all that stuff, I have a couple questions
> before I proceed. First off, what's the best way to neutralize the
> brake fluid and clean it off the metal before I repaint the areas that
> are messed up? I assume what I should to is clean all the brake fluid
> off, maybe re-prime just for good measure and then repaint but, I don't
> want to do that until I'm sure all the brake fluid residue is gone.
> Second, any ideas on the best way to deal with the fluid that's now
> trapped between the body and the frame rails? I suppose I could
> loosen/remove some of the bolts that hold the body to the frame and try
> to create a gap that would let me get in there and clean but, that seems
> iffy. I'm afraid that in doing that I'll end up throwing things like
> door gaps, fender gaps, etc all out of whack. I also can't figure how
> I'd ever get the body far enough off the rails to actually repaint the
> damaged areas. On the other hand, leaving brake fluid trapped between
> the body and frame seems like an equally bad idea. Any tricks I can try
> there?
>
> Although not what I had planned to do with my time this winter, I do
> have all winter to clean this mess up so I want to do it right but, I
> also don't want to make unnecessary work for myself. Any help/tips
> would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Phil Beckman
> Libertyville, IL
> 73 TR6
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