bill Posted October 3, 2005 Report Share Posted October 3, 2005 I had a clutch master that was leaking, so I rebuilt it. Now, it's under a year old. A week later, while I am driving, it started sticking real bad. Uh oh. Said phooey, and ordered whole new cylinder. Some may differ with me, but I think that it is easier just to replace out the whole cylinder. I find it easier to crawl under the car with my trusty trouble light and 1/4" breaker bar with an 11mm 12-point socket, than to work under the steering wheel. I didn't think it was that bad. Anyway, I thought that while I am in there monkeying around, I'd replace the hoses as well, just for good measure. I mean, those puppies are going on twenty years, and I want it to stay fixed. The lower one is easy enough- it's the same as the rear brake hose. But the feed hose, the one that comes off the master, that is an entirely different story. I had it off, and went down to the decent import car parts place in town, thinking, "they must have it". The one that has on it's sign- "You're car is not foreign to us". He's got one size bigger, and one size smaller. He said I need 1/4" inside diameter. It looks like vacuum hose, but will stand up to brake fluid. He says to try the couple of other parts places that have hard to find. I did, and no dice. I then went to a dealership- volvo, porsche,jaguar, chrysler, etc. Parts guy says none of their cars uses it. Okay, I will check the web. I typed into google "reservoir to clutch master cylinder hose". Bingo, a BMW comes up. '86-'88 325. Okay, so I got the part number, but I can't find an inside diameter. I then called the parts counter at the local dealership. The guy said "special order- ~$8. "No", he says, " I don't know how big the inside diameter is". So I ordered it, and then picked it up. If you eyeballed it, you might say they are the same, but no, it is a tad bigger, just enough to be loose at the connections. It does have a fancy braid on it, and is thicker overall. And they give you a lot. Okay, now what? I ended up taking a piece of 1/4" steel brake line, and used a small piece as a connector, which fits both hoses. So, an inch or so of the old hose will get joined to the new stuff at both ends. This clutch hydraulics stuff is new to me. I did read about and bought some brake assembly fluid. This is a lubricant of sorts for when you are reassembling brake and clutch cylinders. I'm thinking it might help to keep things working smoothly. It was like $10 for a like 10 ounce bottle- far more than I will ever use. Again, not the easiest thing to find, but NAPA had it, whereas autozone said to just use brake fluid. I am more than willing to pay a little bit to avoid a re-do. I'm thinking the outer seal on the master seems like it can get dry, and you don't dare use any petroleum-based lubricants. I also discovered denatured alcohol for cleaning the metal parts. The thing about this hydraulics stuff is, "cleanliness is next to impossible". I called a brake specialist guy in my research. He said that one little fingerprint can foul the works. I really need to fix it and forget it, except for the annual bleed with new fluid. It's going to be my new October ritual. BTW- the original hose is made by Kleber, and it has a born-on-date of 1986. And of extremely limited applications, from what I can gather. -Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill Posted October 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 13, 2005 I'm back on the road. It shifts so much better. I went over everything, including all the rubber and the welded rod. The clutch action is smooth and it's easier. I did find some rust in the slave, and it's less than a year old. It wasn't bad, but it was there. Right at the bottom. I don't have a hone, and they wanted like $17 for one. I opted instead for some crocus cloth, a 3M product for doing the insides of cylinders. $1.49 a sheet. It worked great. The other thing I had to use a 1/4" barbed metal hose connectors from Home Depot for the makeshift feed hose. They're over with the air compressor stuff. -Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Posted October 13, 2005 Report Share Posted October 13, 2005 I'm glad you're back on the road and better than before, that's what it's all about! Too bad you had to go through such a crazy chase to find that part... that kind of stuff makes owning these peugeots so frustrating sometimes. At least we get to exercise our creativity, or our ghetto rigging, more than most ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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