[Spridgets] Bad Hose story - long story.

Tim Collins thcollin at mtu.edu
Tue Jun 22 13:55:38 MDT 2010


When I restored my Sprite I thought I would do a smart thing by using 
a hose from the clutch slave cylinder up to a convenient place in the 
engine compartment to bleed the clutch cylinder. That way I could 
bleed the slave cylinder from the top rather than from the underside. 
That worked - for two years. Last weekend I wanted to go for a ride 
but I couldn't get the tranny in gear - any gear. I thought that was 
odd since I have used the car since the long winter nap with no 
problems. I got under the car and with the assistance of my wife 
discovered no mechanical problems. The cylinder and hose were dry - 
no leaks and all the hardware was in place. So, I suspected perhaps 
air in the system even though I could see the push rod moving some as 
my wife pressed the pedal. I was so happy that I could bleed the 
cylinder from the top and mentally gave myself a pat on the back for 
installing the hose. What came out of the bleeder was a coffee 
colored liquid - not anything like the Castrol LMA I put in. I 
conclude what happened was that the hose is disintegrating and that 
"goop" is settling into the slave cylinder because the hose is 
essentially vertical. The goop is causing some "piston stickum." I 
rule out (with X degree of certainty) the rubber seal IN the cylinder 
because 1) I purchased the rebuild kit decades ago so it's probably 
not a foreign made part. 2) With some fiddling I got the car working 
3) there were no leaks evident externally, 4) the line is all metal 
from the pedal box to the slave cylinder.

The Hose
The hose has an interesting history and I could tell a long story 
including a side story about buried treasure (7 barrels of sliver), 
but this story is already getting long. I got three brake line hoses 
from a guy, Carlos Wenberg (Google his name for the treasure story - 
if you get a newspaper page from Lima, N.Y. you are close) who must 
have had a British Leyland garage at one time. He drove a Land Rover 
and I think I can remember a Rover car in the story and BL signs in 
his shop. His current endeavor, in the '70's, was building a 
prototype, totally hydraulic snow removal truck for airports. A huge 
engine on the rear ran a BIG pump that powered the vehicle and rotary 
snow thrower. Anyhow, he gave my three brake line hoses (two with 
part numbers 3700631 and a 538814 - BL numbers??) I received the 
hoses in about the '70's and they had probably been in his possession 
for 20 years or longer - do the math.

I plan to replace the hose with a metal line, bleed the slave 
cylinder 'til I get clear fluid and hope that the internal rubber 
seal is OK. The fluid in the master cylinder is nice and clean so I 
have some reason for hope.

Now. . .  I have two NOS brake line hoses left and they are for sale 
- see numbers above. Antique hoses even. They don't fit a Spridget - 
you have to figure out what they do fit. These are the kind of 
antique that is better put in a display case rather than on your car. 
Just let me know if you are interested! LOL



Tim Collins
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12702006@N07/ 


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