Clutch and Brake Lines

 

I’ll start this update with some advice to anyone making or building anything. You must have the right tool for the job…. Fact. Years back when I build my Cobra I was lucky enough to borrow a neighbours vice mounted brake flare tool and the correct tool makes brake flares all day every day and consistently. I have a small extremely common hand clamp tool that has different dies that clamp onto the brake pipe and that can occasionally make a good brake flare….but. After about three hours playing in the garage practicing some flares on the cheap flare tool I concluded that it was basically shite. I failed to make even one flare that was half acceptable, so I was forced to purchasing a proper tool for the job. I picked one up of eBay brand new as I couldn’t find a used one cheaper anyway and the first flare…. Booom. Instant perfect brake flare bubble with even consistent manipulation time after time after time…. Bloody perfect. With this being a custom made car it wasn’t even an option to cut and bend the lines then take them to a garage to flare them… just not practical, so the new tool has justified itself and paid for itself already with the time I have saved. 

So, first up was making the clutch line. I’m trying to really plan ahead with routs for these copper lines. I want them neat and clean looking but they must also not hinder other components getting fitted later on in the build of which I don’t know what or where really, but a fair few photos on Google and the Fiorano website to help guide me. I made up my clutch line shape and took my time to form the bends evenly and neatly along with adding a pig tail curl at the vibration point between the body and gearbox. The pigtail corkscrew as such is an old fashioned technique to help eliminate metal fatigue through vibration and whilst they do look interesting within the engine bay they don’t really work that well and can be a sod to clear air locks when bleeding. Still was either this or flexible lines that I didn’t really want. I’m trying to get a classic vintage look to the whole car, not a blingy show piece like the Cobra. 

 Once the clutch line was formed and flared I was able to fit it and pressure up the clutch. This was a tad daunting because upon delivery of the donor car the clutch was not engaging or giving any sign of life whatsoever. Granted I have replaced pretty much everything with exception of the master cylinder, which has had new seals but the fear of it not being correct or operating correctly were certainly present. 

This attached video should display that my fears were unnecessary. After bleeding the clutch line I was able to sit in the car and rotate the prop shaft by had and so long as the car was in gear and the clutch depressed. Then if you realise the clutch the prop shaft will no longer rotate as the drive line is engaged through the gearbox. This is extremely satisfying to me as it’s genuinely the first mechanical part of the car that actually is working as it should.

Next up was just following the same process for the brake lines. The brake system here is a dual line system consisting of “Primary” (front) and “secondary” (rear) I have rebuilt the master cylinder and replaced all the seals etc, along with the new cap included the float switch for a warning light. I spend a methodical few hours just taking my time a manipulating the brake lines how I wanted them. I have gone to the same effort as if building to IVA standard with the correct clip spacing and overall the front brake lines are looking great. I took extra effort to bend a crossover into the pipe where it crosses the clutch line, which really adds some detail to build which is exactly what I want from the whole car…. Attention to detail. 

I routed the primary line from the master cylinder along the bulkhead then down to the chassis leg where it runs forward to just in front of the engine mount. Here it’s split into a union where it feeds the near side brake and the second feed routed round the front chassis crossmember back to the offside. 

I have started on the rear brake lines also, however I have had to stop whilst I wait for parts. I’m intending to run the secondary feed from the master, straight down the bulkhead and into a bulkhead union. Then I can run the brake line all the way back along the outside face of the floor pan, under/around the rear half shaft and into another three way union. So until my fittings arrive I can’t continue with the install and disappointingly can’t pressure up the brakes. Still relatively straightforward so long as no joints leak when finished but once that’s all sorted I will be able to seal the boot floor and start making plans for the fuel tank, seat belt mounts and possibly even things like the fuel filler also. So I bit more progress and another few ticks off the list…. Still plenty more to go mind!!