The 'E' Type Forum

hi all,

just been out to check over the old girl and found to my dismay that one of the brake fuid reservoirs is seeping. This is the second time i,ve had this issue. I think it is because they crack around the slight seam at the base. These are the units described as original Sovy. Fed up with having to replace these at no small cost i,m thing of moving to a different type. Anybody tried alloy reservoirs?

i,m sure i can rig up the level sensors so maybe worth a try

tim

Tim

Are you sure it is the bottle and not the low pressure pipe? The pipe 'sweats' after a while: http://etypeuk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2305 Suggest you change them for the Cohline hose as a matter of course anyway. The bottles leak because the low pressure hose puts a strain on the nipple and cracks it or the hose is clamped too tight and crushes the nipple. The original bottles had a filter in them which was supported on a brass tube going through the nipple which prevented the problem. You can find suitable size brass tubing in a model shop if you no longer have the original parts (repro's are not available).

You could fit the bottles from the S1 3.8's which are alloy but you would also need the relevant brackets.

tim wood wrote: This is the second time i,ve had this issue. I think it is because they crack around the slight seam at the base. These are the units described as original Sovy. Fed up with having to replace these at no small cost i,m thing of moving to a different type. Anybody tried alloy reservoirs?

As David said, the originl hose clamps onto the plastic nipple with a filter tube inside (albeit steel not brass) onto which is glued a filter mesh. Clamping onto plastic alone is not replicating the OEM sset-up so it's no wonder your system is not OEM leak-proof either.

Meanwhile OEM 3.8 bottles were round but plastic, not alloy, so the same problem remains. Even if you extract the filters from the old bottles (highly recommended) you need to be careful fitting them to the new in case you split the nipples. They may need clearing/drilling to size.

Pete

If you do not have the old filter/reinforcing pipes, I found that a short length of brake pipe makes a perfect fit into the outlet from the brake bottles and provides the required reinforcement although without the filtering.

Thanks for all replies. just to clarify the bottles do indeed have the original filter inside. The hoses have always "sweated" - i have kind of learnt to live with this but may purchase some of the correct hose at the spares day.

when i fit this i will take the bottle off and have a very close look - may be an araldite repair if it will adhere

You probably won't be able to buy the 'correct' hose at Stoneleigh as after exhaustive testing I found that only the Cohline will not sweat over time and it seems only to be available here: http://www.stevsonmotors.co.uk Fit once and forget, the rest will cause you problems after a very few years!

Stevson's usually have a stand at Stoneleigh, that's where I picked up some fluid ose after the initial stuff sweated as David says.

Heuer : I think that Hutson's stock the same pipe . If so, it is the purple coloured stuff , made I think in Germany , which Andy at Hutson's has tried dyeing black with limited success

Cohline seems to be the hose a lot of us have on our cars. Mine are a dark blue colour which goes nicely with the silver-blue paint...

Unless my colour-blindness has taken a turn for the worse, Stevson's hose is black. I went there some years ago and got the whole story (whether I wanted it or not), together with photocopies of the original Dunlop spec and certification of what he was selling etc.....

Pete

Cohline is blue with a woven sheath but people try the black dye approach with varying degrees of success:

yep thats right... the blue looks real nice on my car...