The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

At least John is talking sense.
Oil based brake cleaner, never seen it or used it, why would a brake cleaner be oil based when oil is the last thing you want to put on brakes?

Paul, my comments are not a dig at you but more a dig at the person 'teaching' you, when you are in school next (or whatever you call it) ask your tutor for prove that he is qualified.

Gloves are a personal protection item to protect skin from cotaminates, they are just as likely to pick up dirt as bare skin.

An oil based cleaner is the best way to remove deposits left by congealed or contaminated brake fluid. The like of which you get from a leaking cylinder seal. Because brake fluid is an oil a similar solution is the best way to remove it. Its a bit like removing an oil based paint with an oil based stripper i.e Paint thinners.

Now just to get this clear I am not cross with any of you. In fact I appreciate your comments hence why I write what I plan to do on here before doing it. I am still learning and the best way to do that is through experience. Please do not take offence if my comments seem to be getting at you they are not. I have Aspergers syndrome and one of the things I find more difficult than anything else is social conversation. I tend not to see how a comment may be taken other than how I intended it on the same front I tend not to read sarcasm and read everything at face value. Im not trying to use this as an excuse its something I have to work through but at least if people know they tend to understand things a bit better.

Oh and on the front of gloves. I know they are as likely to get dirty as bare skin, but look at it from this point of view. Youve just removed a master cylinder from the car which was of course covered in greasy muck as it had been leaking. It can be very hard to get your hands clean hence why I would do a quick hand wash and then put on a pair of latex gloves. I know they are clean which my hands are not and im then less likely to transfer grease/grit onto my new seals as I fit them.

Latex gloves?
are you buying these yourself or are they supplied by your college cousre, if the latter then they should not be supplying latex* but if you choose to use them yourelf than thats fine.

*reason being is that you can form an allergy to latex by wearing them so work places etc should not be using latex.

At college we only get barrier cream and I absolutly loave the stuff. Its another common aspergers trait and I got it bad I cannot stand anything greasy / oily / slimy on my hands so I buy my own gloves. Blue Nitrile for college as latex is banned and latex for home cause I find there tougher.

Edit to add funny qoute.

A friend of the family just red that and commented "Thats true I have that allergy its why I have 4 children"

Then you're in very good company on this forum.

Who else has if they dont mind saying. It would be nice to have a few peoples views on the condition as I was only diagnosed 6 months ago and am sort of still trying to work it out

I'm one of the lucky ones, I know of a couple of others on here but it's obviously up to them to disclose this if they're comfortable doing so. I look at Asperger's as a definite genetic upgrade.


I would be happy to take this to PMs if you need an "ear" to bend on the subject but it's certainly not a barrier to an engineering career.

Just spent a morning in the rain pulling bits of Bruce.

First job was to pull the hubs so I borrowed a hub puller. Attached it to the hub wound 2 turns twang and the puller broke. Grrrr

So moved onto the other jobs cracked the ball joints, removed the lower arm and removed the offside ball joint. These are now sitting ready to be refurbed and rebushed. Then went to undo offside calliper and found I couldn't without the lower arm in place.

Progress on this car has been a bit slower than I would have liked but progress there has been and im can now see the light at the end of the tunnel ;D

Ive been held back by stubborn inboard brake discs with hubs that didn't want to shift. My first attempt resulted in no movement and a broken 3 leg puller. Actually pulled the leg bolt right through the housing

this was the tool and it just wasn't up to much. So yesterday I borrowed a nice hydraulic 3 leg puller from college and that worked a treat.
and resulted in this offside disc removed

nearside disc removed which put up less of a fight

Moved to the back of the car and fitted some new rear cupronickel brake pipes. I made the nearside one a bit long but it is nicely secure. Ive a mind to take it off and make another one or am I just clutching at straws? It wont foul anything and isn't going to move

then moved on to the offside rear pipe which id made a perfect fit

I had some good news with the discs after taking them off they are not deeply pitted or scored. The machine shop reckons I could get away with putting them in a calliper with fresh pads and repeatadly applying the brakes on a spinning wheel. Personally I dont agree and have told them to take a skim off them. Then new pads. Ive managed to free up the pistons on both calipers. There was a lot of grot under the dust covers, and once I can get the bolts to undo I will split the callipers and rebuild them. So my list is getting there

Ball joint - done
Rear brake pipes - done
Steering arm - no perceptible play after rebushing the rack so saying done
handbrake - done
Discs - off being skimmed
Callipers rebuild
fit new rear wheel cylinders when they arrive.

Then re test.

Paul.

Paul, I could be wrong but from memory (and I'm not going out to check right now!) the correct routing for those rear brake pipes is over the trailing arm / hub joint not under it. The reason for that being it gives a nice big loop of pipe to flex as the (single ended) pistons slide which greatly reduces the risk of fatigue failure whatever they're made of.

On that basis the longer one you did is probably a better bet than the short one

Hmm hadn't thought about that. I will keep a close eye on that pipe incase it needs replacing but it does feel nice and secure and not likely to move much.

More progress today. Callipers cleaned up and split and poly bushes pressed in it was difficult even with a bench press. So the bottom arms can now go back on. Oh and the one step back me lower ball joint isn't rebuildable so the kit I got listed for a 1300fwd lower ball joint was a load of bunkam.

last thing. What is the best way to strip down the callipers for resealing. I considered using a pipe wrench or molegrips to remove the pistons but am worried that will damage them.

If it's not likely to move much, then i can imagine it may make matters worse. The cylinder is not fixed to the backplate, but can slide back and forth, so there needs to be enough flex in the pipe to allow for this

What did I say - I've never seen any rebuildable lower ball joints. And I have loads of rebuild kits here too

When I did my callipers, replaced the seals while they were still connected to the car. take the calliper off, clamp one psiton with a block of wood and a G clamp, then get an assistant ot push the pedal, and hey presto, out comes the piston with the power of hydralics .
You say you've split yours? - I'd bolt them back together, and used compressed air to push them out

I split them to clean out the channels so there was no cack in them. You know what they say if a jobs worth doing its worth doing properly. When I said not much movement there is actually more slack pipe than the original as I was unable to remove the male connector from the cylinder without the female connector on the other end undone first. There just wasn't enough slack. What I meant is that its not going to rub against things or fracture through vibrations. However next time I go up to the car I will reroute both over the top of the wish bone and change one if neccesary. The shorter one is about the right length for the centre one which I haven't yet made. So it wont be wasted

As for the ball joint I just assumed that as repair kits where available listed for 1300fwds that the ones fitted would be rebuildable. A bit annoying but I couldn't tell before I got it off the car and was trying to get all the bits in one go

As per traditional Bruce fashion their has been limited progress on Bruce today. Drivers side of the car is now pretty much done. I installed the new lower ball joint, reconnected the tie bar then refitted the disc and hub. Then went to fit the lower arm to discover that the new main bush is the wrong one, meaning it wont go back together. 2 of the right type of bush have now been ordered and hopefully should be here soon.

Moved round to the passenger side of the car and went to refit the brake disc and hub. Got it in place and clamped up tight before realising that the bolts that hold the disc to the hub where next to me. Cue much swearing as I had to take the whole lot apart again to put them in. Only this is Bruce so it was never gonna be that easy, yep the hub wont come off again, and to make it even worse the thread on the drive shaft has been wrecked so that will need recutting.

Or other fronts new pads ready to go in and callipers freed up and moving nicely.

So yes I am further ahead but in true Bruce fashion its 4 steps forward 3 steps back

Can anybody help me sort out a problem im having due to being cack handed?

I replaced the rear wheel cylinders last week but in the process of removing one I managed to snap one of the locking washer/plate things.

Anyone have any spare?