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Re: Bugeye rear brake upgrade and clutch problems.

To: <spridgets@autox.team.net>
Subject: Re: Bugeye rear brake upgrade and clutch problems.
From: "Angela Hervey-Tennyson & Peter Westcott" <toobmany@bigpond.com>
Date: Tue, 20 Jul 1999 21:24:35 +1000
Reply-to: "Angela Hervey-Tennyson & Peter Westcott" <toobmany@bigpond.com>
Sender: owner-spridgets@autox.team.net
You've put in a ton of work however for disk brakes, later drums and the
1275 clutch you need to drop your master cylinder back to .75"/.75" and
increase the clutch slave to 1" to get decent pedal feel.  Resleeving will
be required as will new pistons for master and slave cylinders. 
Alternatively find a M/C from an1100 MkII and a clutch slave from a 1275
Spridget.  One good thing about the heavy brakes is that you'll have to try
REALLY hard to lock them up.

Peter

----------
From: Bryan Vandiver <Bryan.Vandiver@Eng.Sun.COM>
To: spridgets@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Bugeye rear brake upgrade and clutch problems.
Date: Tuesday, 20 July 1999 6:14

First of all I would like to thank everyone for their input. I received a
lot of 
great suggestions. Being new to this list, I was greatly impressed by the
number 
of responses I received.
I wanted to share with everyone my conclusions/solutions (hopefully) to my 
clutch/brake  problems on my bugeye restoration project.

Bugeye (1275 with ribcase)
-Front disk brake conversion 
-rear brake upgrade to later dual acting cylinders (3/4")
-original 7/8 dual master (rebuilt by me)
-new teflon/braded steel flexible brake lines
-reused original 'hard' steel brake an clutch lines (cleaned and repainted)
-new clutch slave cylinder (early type)

all components above were 'new' locheed, except the 'disk brake calipers'
which 
were new rebuilds from MM.

For the rear drums rubbing on the 'new-style' brake backing plates'. I
finally 
found a machine shop near my work, that took off 1/16" the rear lip of the
drum. 
They seem to be fine now. Apparently the early 1/4 elliptical rear axle 
doesn't 
allow as much clearance between the back of the drum, and the 'newer style 
backing plates. (the drums themselves are the same for all years)


Unfortunately, I think there were 'several' contributing factors to my 
clutch/'master-cylinder' problems, so I don't really know, if the 'dot 5' 
silicon fluid was a cause, or a victim. In any case, I removed the MC from
the 
car, and thoroughly cleaned it. It appeared that my original honing  of the

cylinders was still too rough, because both the cylinder pistons were
binding in 
the cylinders, and not always returning all the way. I re-honed both
cylinders, 
until they felt a lot smoother, and used 'Locheed red rubber lube" grease
during 
reassembly on the inner components. 
After reinstalling the newly rebuilt (again) MC in the car, I flushed over
a 
quart of LMA brake fluid through the entire system (clutch and brakes).
Getting 
the 'silicon dot 5' completely out of the system is really tough (it coats,
and 
sticks to everything, and nothing seems to cut it). In any case, I noticed
while 
bleeding, that the silicon, and LMA fluids definitely stay separated. The 
silicon fluid is lighter, so it floats to the top. Hopefully after driving
the 
car a bit, whatever residual silicon was in the system will move to the top
of 
the wheel cylinders, and come out with the next flushing.
In any case, after reflushing. The brakes feel 'rock solid', and the clutch

feels very precise' (more like a cable clutch), hard at first, and then it
gets 
easier about 1/2 down. The clutch still seems pretty strong though, and I 
wouldn't want to do too much 'stop and go' driving with it. I wonder if it
has 
anything to do with the 'roller throw-out bearing' I have installed??

Thanks again everyone, I might just get this beast on the road yet.

 - Bryan

BTW - I can actually pump the brake pedal, and work the bleed nipple on the
left 
rear brake at the same time ;-)


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