Morris Minor Owners Club

Was it really 'cheap' or was the price sensible enough that the kit should be 'fit for purpose'?

Sorry but how on earth can this product be seen as 'fit for purpose' when sold as a brake header tank kit, regardless of its cost and how could a low cost validate its role in being fit for purpose, when clearly its not??, or am I mis reading this question

cheap or not
it should be fit for the purpose intended

well it wont be long

I have to agree with you au, but on finding the receipt for £45.42 my comment was not really correct anyway

well u have your consumer rights
i would send it back for a full refund

rayofleamington wrote:
If you go for an elastomeric pipe (rubber in leymans terms) you want to find an EPDM hose - definately never a Nitrile one. Most of the EPDM hoses that I've seen are clearly marked 'brake fluid use only' but then again, the automotive industry has it's reasons to be paranoid ;-) - the over the counter stuff may not be marked up in the same way.

I intend "hard" plumbing in my remote reservoir with copper pipe.
I've been thinking though and wonder if hydraulic pipe might be suitable for those who wants "soft" plumbing ? I've no idea whether they are EPDM but a hydraulic specialist might be a good place to state if looking for hoses and fitting of all types.

Paul Humphries

DAVE C, did your suspect pipe leak over its entire length or was the
fluid only on the upper few inches. Mine was only on the upper few inches which, to my mind, ruled out a problem with the pipe and pointed to leakage from the actual reservoir above it.

DAVE C, did your suspect pipe leak over its entire length

This was discussed earlier - it was even sweating brake fluid right down to the length in the chassis leg!

cheap or not
it should be fit for the purpose intended

Completely agree - my question was slightly double edged as I'd never seen one of these kits for a 'cheap' price and wondered if your kit was indeed 'cheap'.
If it was only £20 I'd consider getting one myself, but replacing the dodgy hose with a suitable one. In UK consumer law, price is irrelevant - whatever you buy still needs to be fit for purpose. In the real world if you pay well under the odds, you take a bigger risk.

rayofleamington wrote: If it was only £20 I'd consider getting one myself, but replacing the dodgy hose with a suitable one.

I paid, I think, £17 off eBay for just the reservoir with no fittings pipe etc.
It's one sold by motorsport dealers and the pipe attachment stub is threaded metal instead of the plastic push on type.
Exactly the same as this -
http://www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/BRAKE ... _info.html
They also do the hose -
http://www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/BRAKE ... _info.html

Paul Humphries

Thanks for the comments folks.
Willie:
The fluid seems to 'osmisisize' through the wall over its entire length, and fluid takes a few days to build into globules if the car is not used, but the pipe dries quickly (in places) when the car is driven and thus would possibly appear to be OK to the daily driver.

I may have been inclined to dismiss this as condensation or something like that, had it not been for the loss of rigidity of the pipe itself...and the fact the residue IS brake fluid

Anyway, I don't want to be alarmist, but please keep a check on your installation if you have one fitted.

I myself am going to replace my entire kit with a copper piped system that only costs (new) £12 more than one I have now, and return my latter to the supplier for a full refund. I'm not risking anything with my brakes!!

P.S. I renamed the post to attract attention to this observation.