Morris Minor Owners Club

bmcecosse wrote:Nothing wrong with putting the bolts in the sensible way...mine have been that way all my ownership - and the bolt ends and nut are WELL away from the Torsion bar. How could water get in the master ??

Brake fluid is Hydroscopic, I think the problem of a a failing M/C raises the question, how many owners replace there brake fluid as part of there service schedule? This in turn makes Silicon/Dot 5 fluid a good replacement.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brake_fluid

bmcecosse wrote:Nothing wrong with putting the bolts in the sensible way...mine have been that way all my ownership - and the bolt ends and nut are WELL away from the Torsion bar. How could water get in the master ??

the bolts on mine were already round the(wrong) way....
they had been changed at some point and came off easy.
also well away from the torsion bar

so best to use dot 4 then?

Silicone fluid is a nightmare - very very expensive and you would need to change ALL the rubber components in the braking system. And then flush out all the pipes.. Ordinary fluid is indeed hygroscopic - but that doesn't mean pools of water should form in the cylinders!! Yes - it should be changed every couple of years - just a bleed through annually is more than enough. No modern production car that I know of uses Silicone fluid .

bmcecosse wrote:Silicone fluid is a nightmare - very very expensive and you would need to change ALL the rubber components in the braking system. And then flush out all the pipes.. Ordinary fluid is indeed hygroscopic - but that doesn't mean pools of water should form in the cylinders!! Yes - it should be changed every couple of years - just a bleed through annually is more than enough. No modern production car that I know of uses Silicone fluid .

I read somewhere that silicone fluid will compress under extreme use. Now I'm not sure what they define as 'extreme', but it could be something like an emergency stop when a kid runs out into the road from between parked cars. On those grounds, I'd avoid it like the plague!

I wouldn't worry too much about that - but 'they' do say it is difficult to bleed -although I can't see why that should be.

I've had 14 years experiencing silicone fluid in my vehicle, braking is no different and have had no cylinders sticking so far, presumably because no water present. On a personal note it was money well spent, and know doubt saved me some in the long run. I can't recall any trouble bleeding the system either.

But it has caused chaos with the indicators........

Yes I'm going to make a temporary change to dot 4 to see if that fixes them If it does, I'll take it all back!

Don't bet your mortgage on it.......

new m/c and flexy pipes and assorted nuts washers,
arrived today....
not bad seeing i only ordered them at 12 pm yesterday.
good old bull motif...
so my easter diy is now sorted

I`m just about to remove my master cylinder and replace, the car has been off the road for 10 years and like the o/p I don`t want to have to take it out again if the rubbers don`t do the trick. Many thanks for the link which explains how to do it without removing the torsion bar but it makes no mention of the connection between the brake pedal and the cylinder rod, Haynes says remove as a unit which means removing the large floor plate. There is plenty of rust on the bolt through the push rod so I guess I will have to go that route...........Martin

Ok, had another look with some light shone in there and realised that unlike my other classics there is no connected push rod, the pedal assembly simply pushes on the piston of the m/c.......Doh! Looks like levering the torsion bar will be fun though!.......Martin

fitted the m/c and new flexy pipes this
afternoon,
also cleared out the chassis rail.....
quite a lot of **it in there
flush it out while car was jack at the rear..
then jacked the font
spray up the rail with heavy old oil
its now dripping on a old blanket

bleeding time tomorrow