Mike,
Thanks for letting us know where the fault was. None of us are immune
to these kinds of mistakes and it is good to be reminded to check
everything when making a repair. I don't know how many times I've had
to take something apart because something was left out or in backwards
(I farm, so I work on a lot of equipment). At least those bolts come
off easier the second time.
Jim Higgins
"Michael L. Coop" wrote:
>
> Sorry listers, but I've merged two threads into one.
>
> I've been sharing my frustration with a complete re-build job on the brake
> system of my 78 Spitfire 1500. Those of you who've been following the
> thread know that I've entertained every conceiveable possible cause for the
> lack of pressure in the system (pdwa faulty, nipples on reservoir faulty,
> defective rebuilt mastercylinders, cross-talk in the system due to removing
> shuttle from pdwa etc. etc.)
>
> Two points I need to make here...
>
> 1. Apple Hydraulics are unbelieveably easy to get along with. Statistically
> speaking, there's no way they could send me 3 faulty rebuilt master
> cylinders. But, they kept on trying to take care of me anyway. (They
> secretly must have been thinking I'm either to be pitied as the most unlucky
> guy in the world, or, that I was part of some kind of conspiracy.)
>
> 2. Regardless of how many times I've done brake jobs, I'm still capable of
> making some really dumb mistakes.
>
> A local brake guru here in Indianapolis who specializes in rare and exotic
> cars (Rolls, LBC's, Lancias etc.) suggested that I may have inadvertently
> (of course!) installed the calipers on the wrong sides of the car. I
> checked it out last night and... <red face> Bingo!
>
> Installing Spitfire calipers on the wrong side results in the bleed nipples
> being situated on the BOTTOM of the caliper. A little basic physics
> here... air rises in a liquid. With nipples on the bottom of the caliper,
> the air rises to the opposite end of the caliper from the bleed nipple. No
> matter how much I bleed the system, I'll never get all the air out of the
> top of those calipers. So, I'm continually compressing air. Hence, spongy
> pedal.
>
> My humblest apologies for wasting all your time trying to figure this one
> out.
>
> I'll return to harmlessly lurking the list again.
>
> Mike Coop
> Michael Coop Agency, Inc.
|