Brake bleeding ( bleeding Brakes !)

 Big day today as set to to bleaad the cluth and brakes .

Bought myself a vacuum bleed kit as thought it was the best way to go 

There is a choice of brake fluids on the market DOT 4 DOT 5 and DOT5.1 

Dot 4 is what is said on the lid but looking into it DOT 5 has a higher boiling point so figured that might be better  however Dot 5 can not be mixed with anything but Dot 5.1 will mix with Dot4 

Dot 5.1 it is then .

Started out fine with the ki and got the fluid all the way though to the bleed nipple but couldn't get all the air out , moved on to the brakes and encountered the same problems

Vacuum kit 

No matter what i did i always seemed to have air bubbles coming though  after an hour and god knows how much brake fluid  resorted to the old and trusted method of bleeding with the glass jar and pipe 

This worked a treat so for some reason the vacuum system was sucking air in and the joints ,

now all blead and working fine good day in the garage .

Also adjusted the handbrake as didn't bite until 4 clicks up .

Surprised how easy the clutch pedal was to press expected it to be a lot harder .

Brakes Clutch pipes

 Was never totally  happy with the way the brake and clutch pipes went from the chassis to the body  as seemed to be in the way and just attach to the reservoir  but couldn't see an alternative 

That is until i got talking to Global Hydraulics  who told me they could make new pipes with an elbow on each end .

Three  things i had to be careful of was 1:- the angle needs to be spot on ,2:- the length needs to be spot on and 3:-the treads are different  so had to identify the right thread .

Had a selection of elbows to work with and used my pipe as reference for length and angle.

Old pipe with new elbow used as templete for new pipes 

The new pipes were made and then fitted by Steve ( the perfectionist )so happy with the result  bleeding is the next job but time for a beer now,

Pipes in and secured with metal bracket courtesy  of Steve
flex pipes secured with "P" clips  

New pipe elbows really neat job dead happy 

Huge thanks to John from Global Hydraulics ( Grimsby ) 

Storage pockets

 After trolling though other peoples blogs I noticed that a lot of owners fit a map pocket for the passinger .

I ordered these from e bay and 3 came instead of 1 .

with 2 spares in hand came up with the idea to fit them behind the seats as bit of  extra storage .

Also put one behind the drivers seat as well 

Windscreen

 I was all set to fit the dash when I realized that the windscreen needs fitting first so.

We had already fitted it once, so it was a relatively easy job (but a bit scary as a lot of money) windscreen was fitted and then rechecked the measurements to make sure it was still right .930mm from the windscreen to the back i had 931 mm so good enough for me.

the 2 covers were placed on the pillars, and it becomes apparent that they need bending to the shape of the car, did this with a piece of decking wood a 1/2-inch drive extension and a vice, nice smooth bend.

other blogs seem to use self-tapping screws to secure these plates but wen i drilled the hole for the outside it was so close to the station hole i was worried it would split 

I have opted for 4mm bolts 

the outside ones need to be 50mm due to the curve, ordered these so hex head fitted for now.

once these were fitted, removed everything again and applied black silicon to the gap and underneath the plate then refitted te plates and windscreen.

once the button head bolts arrive i will be able to swap one at a time without disturbing the seal 

All fitted and waiting for the silicon to cure 

Just checking his head was below the roll bar/windscreen  

Handbrake

 Fitting the handbrake leather cover was next ,started off easy put a tie wrap on the top bit and then folded over to make it look right ,

Then i could see no way of securing the gaiter ,look at other blogs and they had a bracket which i haven't got, and figured that no one will see it anyway so .

brainstorming we came up with the idea that by welding the the 2 bolts on the handbrake could then use those to trap the gaiter .

bolts welded by my welder 

Then the gaiter could be fitted and using wad punches to make holes in the leather 

Holes in the leather 

in place 

Handbrake

 Thought this would be easy should have learn by now .using pictures from a trip to GD figured out were the handbrake bracket should be .

taken while on a trip to GD 

using this we decided to fit the handbrake in the same place ,first drilling a hole in the rear for the cable and then fixing the handbrake bracket. First problem is that the handbrake is that close to the side its impossible to use .initial idea was to bend the handbrake to fit but Steve expert welding services came to the rescue again and the braket was "modified "  

Back stud shortened to give the angle and then the cable retainer had to be moved   

found that it fits a lot better was not sure weather it would go on top or under the carpet and the pics are a bit out of sequence as we settled for on top of the carpet .

Steve happy with his work 

  

Brakes

While the wheels were off I looked at front brakes  and they look the dogs... but the back brakes are plain by comparison ,as they are new thought it would be a good time to srray them as they can be seen though the wheel .

front brakes looking good

disappointing back brake

so I removed the callipers and sprayed them with a gloss black brake calliper spray from Ebay (£4) remembering to use masking tape on the rubber bits and block the brake fluid hole up .

sat on the trailer after being sprayed

 then it was just a case of refitting and happy with the difference .

looks as good as the front



Brakes

Had a bit of time to kill so finished fitting the two brake pipes on the master cylinders bit more tricky than I thought as the pipe is too long to fasten to either end until it is bent but didn't know were to bend it until I could get it in .found the easiest way was to screw the pipe into the cylinder first and bend to suit as the cylinder thread is quite fine and easy to cross thread
another job ticked off

Note the brake pipes don't fit on the end like the clutch

Pedal box pipes

Started to fit the pedal box pipes as had a bit of time .Started with the clutch as that is the pipe that must go to the rear of the car .



Brake feed pipe and supply pipe fitted


 

Clutch pipe fitted to rear  

Pedal box Fitting

Fitting the Pedal box is a two person job at best .Took the pedals off to try and get it lined up right



Fastened with 1 bolt so I can get it level and check the holes still line up  

Read on other blogs that the cylinders need to be spaced off with washers so as I had some ally plate put that on the back to try and compensate !?
Still didn't work as I still had to cut 3mm off the clutch cylinder thread but worked a treat for the brake cylinders


Fitted finally

 Some confusion with which master cylinder goes were as there are two different sizes
0.75 and 0.625 I was convinced that the bigger one should go to the front but was labelled up the other way round  a call to Andy and I was wrong the smaller one goes on the front !!

Fitted with 2 mm of free play and the bias bar fitted the right way round