Guy is correct. Those hoses can look fine but closed off, or on the
verge of closing off, internally.
When I picked up my Bugeye the previous owner warned me the brakes were
frozen. We had to cut the hoses to drag it on the rollback.
The car had been in storage for a long time and needed a total rebuild of
the system, but the rear hose and one front hose were swollen tight.
A couple of the hard lines that otherwise looked sound were also badly
corroded under the fittings and would surely have failed on the road sooner
or later.
You might get the brakes to bleed out, but, under the circumstances, not
knowing what was done to the car previously, I would carefully inspect all
work the previous owner did before I would trust the car on the road.
Ghost stories:
1. A good friend of mine who has had more British cars than I could count
going bakk to the early 60s once sold his TVR to a guy who wrecked it going
home due to brake failure.
2. A few years ago, my wife`s Escort needed brake work. She wouldn`t let
me do it because she said I`d take a week. Two days after it came back from
the Ford dealer, she was getting ready to make the 60 mile drive down Rt 1 to
Baltimore. I happened to check the fluid and the MC was almost dry. The
supposedly professional mechanic didn`t tighten the fitting on a caliper.
Since the brake and clutch pipes were mixed up, could it be that whoever
did that got the internals of the MC crossed up as well? I never did know what
that extra part in the brake bore is for, but it must be there for some
reason.
Bert Shirey
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