Sorry listers, but I've merged two threads into one.
I've been sharing my frustration with a complete re-build job on the brake
system of my 78 Spitfire 1500. Those of you who've been following the
thread know that I've entertained every conceiveable possible cause for the
lack of pressure in the system (pdwa faulty, nipples on reservoir faulty,
defective rebuilt mastercylinders, cross-talk in the system due to removing
shuttle from pdwa etc. etc.)
Two points I need to make here...
1. Apple Hydraulics are unbelieveably easy to get along with. Statistically
speaking, there's no way they could send me 3 faulty rebuilt master
cylinders. But, they kept on trying to take care of me anyway. (They
secretly must have been thinking I'm either to be pitied as the most unlucky
guy in the world, or, that I was part of some kind of conspiracy.)
2. Regardless of how many times I've done brake jobs, I'm still capable of
making some really dumb mistakes.
A local brake guru here in Indianapolis who specializes in rare and exotic
cars (Rolls, LBC's, Lancias etc.) suggested that I may have inadvertently
(of course!) installed the calipers on the wrong sides of the car. I
checked it out last night and... <red face> Bingo!
Installing Spitfire calipers on the wrong side results in the bleed nipples
being situated on the BOTTOM of the caliper. A little basic physics
here... air rises in a liquid. With nipples on the bottom of the caliper,
the air rises to the opposite end of the caliper from the bleed nipple. No
matter how much I bleed the system, I'll never get all the air out of the
top of those calipers. So, I'm continually compressing air. Hence, spongy
pedal.
My humblest apologies for wasting all your time trying to figure this one
out.
I'll return to harmlessly lurking the list again.
Mike Coop
Michael Coop Agency, Inc.
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