I thought by now that I'd be writing to thank all those listers who've
helped me through a master cylinder rebuild on my '65 Sprite. I do thank
you, but unfortunately, I'm still having problems with the hydraulics and I
seek your advice yet again.
As you've read in my previous post, after reassembling and bleeding both
the brake and clutch lines, I found that the clutch was barely disengaging
the gears (i.e., within an inch of the clutch pedal coming back from the
firewall, the engine gears were fully loaded with engine power).
Everyone said that probably I had not bled the clutch line well, which made
sense as I had had to install a new one. So, last night, I bled the clutch
line and all 4 brakes (as long as I was at it) A LOT. I used the
time-honored method of having a helper at the pedal and opening and closing
the valve at each push of the pedal. We went through 2.5 quarts of fluid to
make sure there was no air.
While up on jackstands, the clutch action was OK, but not quite as good as
in the past. The brakes were firm. I lowered the car, rolled it out of the
garage, and lost all clutch action and the brakes were mushy. If I pump the
clutch I can just get the car to go into gear (with the engine running). It
of course goes into gear easily with the engine off.
Maybe this Sprite just likes heights, though I suspect that what happened
is that I over-honed the cylinders (though I barely honed them) and I'm
just sloshing fluid back and forth. The only drawback to this theory is
that the pedal actions were pretty good when the car was up on stands. If
the mc was solely to blame, what difference could being back on the ground
make?
Do you have any thoughts on this? I am on the verge of just leaving it with
a mechnic and letting him solve the problem, but it really bothers me
because 1) I'm cheap and 2) I should be able to fix this!!!
Assuming I've ruined the mc, does anyone have a used one they'd like to
sell me? The current one is a poor candiate for re-sleeving as the clutch
line inlet screw hole is just about stripped beyond use (though it's not
leaking fluid).
Thanks again,
Jeff
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Jeff Boatright __o_\__ '65 Sprite Mk III
http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~jboatri/sprite/sprite.html
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