Well last weekend was a bleedin' nightmare.
The plan was to fit brake pipes on Friday, bleed them on Saturday and get the engine wired up and attempt a start up on Sunday.
Sounds simple?
What actually happened was I took all day Friday making and fitting brake pipes which was fine. On Saturday the back brakes just would not bleed up. When I disconnected the pipe that goes to the rear it became apparent that there was no pressure. I removed the master cylinder (several times) to check if I had rebuilt it correctly but I was flogging a dead horse. The cylinder was obviously worn out.
I went inside and opened a bottle of red...
Sunday (headache). Whilst I tried to source a new Master cylinder we decided to get the engine wired up and ready for a start up. First job was to set the valve clearances. I put the ratchet on the crank pulley nut to turn the engine to TDC and it would only move 1/2 an inch in each direction before a 'CLONK' was heard. Joe identified the noise as coming from the bellhousing area.
It then dawned on me that there were 2 different size clutches. We are running an HB gearbox and a Chevette engine and the pressure plate was interfering with the bellhousing. We took the gearbox off and could see the witness marks where the contact had occurred. I told Joe we would have to order a new clutch but he suggested we 'trimmed' the bell housing a little. When I looked a little closer the amount of material that needed to be removed was minimal so this was done and the gearbox successful fitted. I am proud that my Son has inherited my botching ways...
David (1972Nail) replied to my Master Cylinder wanted ad suggesting 2 alternatives that may fit. The first was a TR7 item which looks identical but probably has metric pipe fittings, second was off a late rubber bumper MGB. This had a different shaped reservoir. The TR7 one cost £170 and the MGB one £59. Guess which one I chose
The original cylinder is on the right.
This bolted straight on and connected up after the brake unions were changed for metric items.
When it came to filling the cylinder with fluid the front chamber (back brakes) would not fill due to the angle the reservoir was sitting. It crossed my (botching) mind to drill through the partition between the two reservoir chambers but this would have effectively turned it into a single circuit system. In the end I drilled a hole in the top of the master cylinder, filled it via a funnel and plugged the hole with a grommet.
Surprisingly this has worked and doesn't leak at all. Thinking about it later all I had to do was jack the car up at the back and the front chamber would have filled. Remember, I make these mistakes so you don't have to
The brakes bled successfully
The rest if the day was spent wiring the ignition and making up HT leads.