Morris Minor Owners Club

ello chaps,

The brake bleed nipples I've bought recently have all been rubbish, the banjos too. I've resorted to re-using old ones . Anyone know a good supplier of proper, fit-for-purpose nipples and banjos? These are for rear drums.

wibble x

You do realise they have to be a different thread at the rear ? 3/8" BSF - and NOT the 3/8" UNF as used at the front?
The BSF is a courser thread, and UNF nipples will not seal in these banjos !

Automec

50p each at any autojumble - never had any problems.

bmcecosse wrote:You do realise they have to be a different thread at the rear ? 3/8" BSF - and NOT the 3/8" UNF as used at the front?
The BSF is a courser thread, and UNF nipples will not seal in these banjos !

wibble wqs enquiring where to get and not what the different types are

well done jonathon for reading the post properly

I suspect she may have been using the wrong nipples in the banjos ! Hence the problem. The fine thread ones do 'sort of' screw in - they just don't seal! But DO feel free to correct me if I'm wrong!!

And haven't we already thrashed out the fact that you can't guarantee which threads your particular Moggy is going to have, irrespective of production dates? I'm sure Wibble is much too dainty to force the wrong nipples where they shouldn't go!

"right" nipples from "reputable Morris Minor Specialist supplier" = leaks. Badly-made nipples. Seeking a good make. Thanks much, J

The rear brakes are ALWAYS the 3/8" BSF thread - some have indeed reported that coarse thread also on other parts of their system - although standard was the fine 3/8" UNF. The UNF nipples don't need any 'forcing' to go into the BSF banjos - they are 'loose' and just don't seal well!
The sealing comes down to the taper nose on the nipple against the taper seat in the banjo - if the thread is correctly matched - so inspection will show how well the parts have been machined - but generally the action of tightening them together generates a good 'line' seal no matter what!
I'm surprised the car passed it's MOT if the bleed nipples are leaking ??

I'm surprised the car passed it's MOT if the bleed nipples are leaking ??

ah - sighs... try reading the first post and the answer will be obvious - the old ones were used as an interim measure.

Ahh yes - it was so long ago I had forgotten that part! Thanks for pointing it out Ray!
So - are we to be told which supplier produced the useless bleed nipples - I wonder ?? Or are others to go on spending money on sub standard safety critical parts ?

I agree about the dubious quality - I had terrible problems getting some that were fit for purpose. Two actually had the conical end collapse in on itself when screwed home gently - drilled too deeply. Eventually I found that using the best of a bad bunch from several sets seemed to work. Thanks for the tip Jonathon. Will get some from them for next year's bleeding session!
Dom

Leave the old ones, you won't get better! As a point of interest I have found that some of the copper pipes I am useing needed to be tightened really tight to stop leaks; I am putting it down to badly formed flares. You get used to assuming it's a quality thing!
Old stuff rules!

have ordered a couple of nipples from automec, will report back on their performance in my system

If you ordered the solid brass ones then you will not be disapointed

I dunno which ones they are sending, i just said what they were for. They are over £3 each

Oh, .....should be brass then.

some of the copper pipes I am useing needed to be tightened really tight to stop leaks;

sadly that causes problems later on, as overtightening will deform the flare nut so if you need to remove and refit the pipe for any reason, it probably won't refit
If the pipe flare looks dodgy, then it probably is! The sealing part of the flare should be free of marks steps or lines - the nut side of the flare should be even so that the nut side loads the flare evenly, but marks and lines are not a problem on this side.

For those who like to look at small things reeeeeeeaaaaally close up:

From left:

1. standard brand-new bleed nipple, as previously tried (this one is unused) - you can see the roughness of the mating face and the blunt "nose"

2. Automec nipple, solid brass, nice smooth pointy mating face

3. The old, reused nipple which got the van through the MOT, it probably counts as archaeology, but you can see that the mating face appeared to be correctly formed and there was just about enough of it left to seal the hole in the banjo

Fitted an Automec nipple to the leaking corner yesterday and will be checking on it repeatedly over the next couple of days.

wibble
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Good photo - wish my digital would do macros like that. Can certainly see the problems there - but we still don't know who supplied this piece of $&!%.