Malcolm sez...
> but... the car doesn't have flared ends! There's a brass ring around the
> line and that's what gets crushed by the flare nut. I've never
> encountered these in brake systems, but they look a lot like a plumbing
> fitting for, say, a toilet or sink hookup.
>
> Can anyone tell me if there's a better method? It seems to me that a
> brass ring would be more prone to corrosion that a flared tube, but maybe
> it's cheaper (?) How do you get the ring on the tube so it will fit?
>
>
Malcolm-
I think we're in for one of those "learning" things...
Your car should have "bubble" type flares on all the hydraulics. If it has
a "stock" cylinder in it, it "used" to have bubble flares, but it has
probably now gone to flare heaven. The barrel nut kludge setup can be
attributed to the DPO, but now it's time to fix it. You mention the problem
with the frozen flare nuts (plural ?). Most all the TR4's had a clutch
cylinder with the fluid reservoir cast into it, and only one fitting on the
cylinder going down to the slave cylinder. That said, I seem to recall
seeing some TR4's with the remote hydraulic reservoir, ALA TR3. That setup
would have 2 fittings on the cylinder. If that's the setup you have, be
very careful with the pipe from the reservoir can to the cylinder as I
think it may be tough to duplicate because of the fitting on the reservoir
end. The best tool to get the reluctant fittings off is oddly enough ...a
flare nut wrench. Most any good tool shop should have them. They look like
a box end wrench with a small cut in the circumference to allow the wrench
to slip over the metal pipe. If you have buggered the pipe from the master
down to the slave, you can get pipes (Bundyflex) of assorted lengths with
the correct type of flares on them. Unfortunately, the clutch line as I
recall used a female end down at the connection to the rubber hose at the
slave cylinder, so you will have cut the pipe and have the shop put the
correct flare on the pipe using your old fitting. Since you have purchased
the correct bubble flare Bundyflex pipe, you can actually see if the shop
really can do the correct flare for you (most can't).
At this point it should be all too obvious that you are gonna need a new
master cylinder and you might as well get a new rubber hose at the same
time and save yourself grief further down the road.
I won't even broach the topic of brake fluids...
Nick in Nor Cal
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