Lights, camera and (some) action...

Clutch master cylinder back in place

So while the blog may have been neglected a little lately, the car certainly hasn't. Finding time to get on with things is proving a bit tricky, but nonetheless, some progress is being made. Last time I wrote about the clutch and brake master cylinders and that work is still ongoing. The clutch master cylinder I originally sourced proved to have the wrong outlet thread - the Landrover parts appear to be metric rather than the 7/16" UNF that's on the clutch line. So I resold that part on Ebay and then looked around, but even all the genuine Girling parts seemed to have a 3/8" UNF female connection for the outlet. In the end, I picked up one of these and then found an adapter at a diving store - it seems it's a common component for breathing apparatus. Anyway, it fitted fine with a copper sealing washer and the clutch master cylinder is now back in place. In the picture you can also catch a glimpse of a shiny brake servo. This isn't a new part, just the old one cleaned up and repainted. I took this decision as new parts aren't available and a refurbishment is pretty expensive, so best to try it out once the car is running and see if it needs anything doing. The master cylinder, on the other hand, has gone off to Lotus Bits for refurbishment as this is more likely to be problematic - lots of seals to replace and a piston bore that may have some corrosion from water coming out of the brake fluid it has been sat around in while the car has been out of action.

With these parts back on, I was then able to reconnect them to the pedals and replace the steering wheel and the seats. Not surprisingly, connecting up the clutch and brake pedals was extremely fiddly. Access to the clutch isn't too bad but the steering column is really in the way for the brake. In the end, I unscrewed the fork from the servo piston to make it easier to manipulate from inside the car. 

Seat sliding mechanism, pre-refurb

While the seats were out and being cleaned up, I took the opportunity to refurbish the sliding mechanisms which had become pretty rusted to the extent that neither seat could be adjusted. This involved using some rust removal cleanser (another Ebay purchase!) and then a respray with some black Hammerite from Halfords. With these refitted, the seats are now back in the car and they are adjustable!

With all this done and while waiting for the return of the brake master cylinder, the next step was to rebuild the lamp-pods and check if they fitted OK.  The bonnet brackets needed some attention to give them a loose fit in the bushes. The bracket shafts were then fed through the pods and secured with some shiny new R-clips. Once in place, the electrical connections were fed though the grommet space in the back and then the headlamps were refitted. Not sure if these are adjusted correctly, so may need to wait for the MOT test. Just getting the pods to lift correctly and close flush with the bodywork was a bit of a challenge! The pushrod shafts from the electric motors have to be unattached and their lengths adjusted by screwing the rod-ends along the shafts. But got there in the end and the result looks good! Will be interesting to see how it all looks when the bonnet is fitted. The new stainless steel brackets have been completed by Stable Fabrications and they fit fine, so everything is ready there - just waiting for the brake master cylinder so everything is completed in the compartment before finally fitting the bonnet.

Headlamp pods fitted and working!

Clutch and brake master cylinders

Disassembled brake servo assembly

So the next job was to look at replacing the clutch and brake master cylinders. In reality, it's difficult to tell if replacement is necessary without getting to the inside and checking for corrosion damage in the cylinder bores, but from the outside the parts do look a little the worse for wear. They've been sitting unused in their hydraulic oil for quite a while so it's quite likely some rust has formed.

Getting replacement brake parts is not simple. There's a lot of internet chat about the servo and master cylinder being equivalent to Morris Marina Ital parts, but it's difficult to confirm this. I had a look at the Lucas Girling catalogue with the guys at Lotus Bits and the part numbers don't seem to be the same. They can refurbish the parts, but this is a pretty expensive process. In the end, it seems the most economical and simple solution may be fit S3 servo and master cylinder, as these parts are apparently easier to source.

The clutch master cylinder is much more straightforward as the main cylinder part is equiavlent to a Land Rover Defender 90 part and is readily available from 4x4 parts dealers.

New and old clutch master cylinders

I managed to pick a new part up from Ebay for not much more than £10. The piston is not quite the same though, so it's necessary to retain the existing piston and then swap them over. A word of caution: watch out when removing the circlip to release the piston from the body as a flick of a screwdriver flung mine across the garage and it has yet to be found!! Getting the master cylinders out involves a bit of fiddling around in the pedal box to release the split and clevis pins from the pedals - not a simple process as there's not much room in there! For the brake pedal, you need to remove all the retaining nuts from the servo assembly in the front compartment so you can pull this towards the front of the car as far as possible - this moves the clevis pin along the steering column a little to a gap near the spline that just leaves enough clearance to extract it. Hopefully, using the same approach in reverse will allow it to go back in again OK! Now waiting for some bits (circlips and pliers) so I can get this rebuilt and then I'll try to source the brake parts. Then I'll have a go at using the Eezibleed kit that I picked up from Screwfix - this uses air pressure from the spare tyre to make bleeding the brake and clutch systems a very simple process (in theory!).