[Spridgets] Holy Sprite brakes

[Phil Nase]

Sounds like a piece of the seal on a brake fluid bottle got in there.

Phil Nase
Quakertown, PA
http://home.comcast.net/~philnasecpa/



On Jan 18, 2009, at 5:00 PM, Frank Clarici wrote:

> As some of you know, Fr Jack's brakes were giving us headaches the  
> day he drove the car for the first time.
> Stuck ON brakes meant no power on the road and really quick stops if  
> you let off the gas.
> I adjusted the master push rods 6 ways from Sunday and the brakes  
> were good for a 1/2 mile then lock up.
> I kept on adjusting, re-adjusting, and even switched rods all with  
> weird results.
> Yesterday we brought the Holy Sprite to my house, a journey of about  
> 15 miles and the first push on the pedal went almost to the floor,  
> second push was fine, 3rd locked up the brakes and they would not  
> release.
> But they did release after a few miles only to lock up when I had to  
> stop.
> So today I replaced the master with a fresh rebuilt unit, I adjusted  
> the rods by the book and the brakes are perfect.
> No lock up, no to the floor, they are as they should be.
> So I figured I messed up the first master when I rebuilt it, flipped  
> seal, forgot the brake valve or stuck it in the clutch side,  
> whatever, but something had to be wrong.
> I tore apart the master and everything was fine, correct valve in  
> correct bore, seals perfect, WTF?
> Then I see something shiny in the master sitting in the brake side  
> reservoir. It was a 1/2 x 1/4" piece of aluminum foil with plastic  
> on it, sort of like a gum wrapper or something, just a scrap sitting  
> between the cups of the piston blocking the fluid return hole.
> First question was how on earth did it get there? Must have been the  
> rebuilder (me) who never looked.
> Now all those weird pedals and all those adjustments made perfect  
> sense.
> A movable blockage on the master will do this. In time the fluid  
> weeped past the tin foil making the brakes work again.
> All is well with the brakes now, next is the Holy Smokes engine  
> which burned 2.5 qts in 118 miles of use.
> I have the spare all rebuilt and ready to drop in right after the  
> Newspaper does their interview and photo shoot
> this Tuesday.
>
> Just one more WEIRD problem that nobody would have ever figured out.
> So keep the tin foil out of your master cylinders guys, it's a real  
> PITA.
>
> -- 
> Frank Clarici
> Toms River, NJ
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