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-   -   Brake Fluid Reservoir Orientation (http://www.haynes.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=13391)

Josh 18th July 2014 03:29 PM

Brake Fluid Reservoir Orientation
 
Hi all

I have a master cylinder from an XR4X4 and a fluid reservoir from a standard Sierra:



My master cylinder sits perfectly horizontally when bolted to my pedal box - this would mean the fluid reservoir would sit at an angle. Will this be OK, or do I need to remote mount my reservoir such that it sits horizontally and connect to the master cylinder with flexible tubes?

Thanks
Josh

voucht 18th July 2014 06:16 PM

I guess it is OK this way because the senor will show "empty" before the time it would have on the donor, where the brake fluid reservoir is leaning backwards.

But my advice it to remote it because the master-cylinder is one of the lowest point of your brake circuit on the roadster, and if there is leak, the callipers/wheel cylinders will starve before your sensors show empty. The reservoir should be for that reason the highest point of the brake circuit.

That is anyway what I have done on my car:


2013-07-18_18-55-24 par Voucht71, sur Flickr


2013-10-26_18-03-03 par Voucht71, sur Flickr


2013-11-26_13-47-44 par Voucht71, sur Flickr

or the full album here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/994983...7643576951405/

I have the stencils for the Sierra reservoir brackets I've fabricated, with holes to have access to the flexible hose clamps screws. If you are interested, I can email them to you.

You will need brake fluid compatible hoses, most of the time, they are in EPDM. Don't use fuel or oil hoses.

Hope this will help :)

flyerncle 19th July 2014 09:51 AM

It was meant to sit on the end of an angled servo in a previous life so its got to be angled also,use seperate resovoirs and the fittings from a Fiat punto remote cylinder and some pipe.

Josh 19th July 2014 02:28 PM

Thanks, I shall go with remote mounting then. Where can I buy suitable hose? And if I turn up a couple of nipples from ali that replicate those of the reservoir, will that be sufficient to plug into the master cylinder?

voucht 19th July 2014 05:36 PM

Paul's got a point here! Better to put the brake fluid reservoir in the same position as it was on the Sierra, and not horizontally as I did. I don't know why I haven't thought of that when I did my support! But I think it is not such a big deal.

Regarding the hose, the problem is that the nipples on the Sierra reservoir are 12mm OD. And it is very hard to find brake fluid resistant hose bigger than 10mm ID. I'm using 10mm ID hose, that I could force on the 12mm nipples of the reservoir, secured with clamp, it is OK. Then I have plastic (Delrin, which is brake fluid resistant) reducing hose connectors 10 to 12mm on the master cylinder inlets. All secured with clamps. But if you can machine your own hose joiners in aly, it is even better!

Perhaps other reservoirs like the one from Fiat Punt Paul is talking about are more suitable, as they were originally remote. Rally Design has one which has 8mm OD outlets, but it is of course more expensive than a second hand OEM one.
http://www.rallydesign.co.uk/product...ducts_id=11803

alga 19th July 2014 10:37 PM

I believe there are lots of cars with Sierra reservoirs on horizontal master cylinders. It does not cause any problems beside the brake fluid warning being more sensitive. I think you're solving a problem that does not exist.

flyerncle 21st July 2014 11:03 AM

You can use the connectors from the Punto to push into the cylinder saving making or buying them and you will need to use the correct pipe for brake fluid.
It will make filling the system much easier than being down in the chassis if you fit remote resovoirs.

voucht 21st July 2014 11:23 AM

I agree with you and Albert, but this doesn't solve the problem of the reservoir being lower than the callipers/wheel cylinders when fitted directly on the master-cylinder.
So, if the position of the reservoir is not a real problem, unlike Albert says, yes, one problem does exist: the height of the reservoir. That is the reason why I chose to remote it in front of the bulkhead panel. It is also much easier to check the level and refill.
After, it can be considered as being very picky to think about an eventual leak, but I thought it would be good to mention it.

flyerncle 21st July 2014 02:10 PM

It does cause issue's Sylvain,when I built the Teamtrain car the rear brakes would not bleed due to being higher than the master cylinders,dropped them off the carriers and bled them hanging below chassis no problem.

If you do have any issue's with yours at least the large volume of fluid will feed the front brakes (unless you get the issue with them )!

voucht 21st July 2014 02:14 PM

I'm glad we agree :)

flyerncle 22nd July 2014 09:33 AM

We always have meaningfull conversations Mon Ami .;)

jps 5th February 2018 04:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by voucht (Post 97943)
Better to put the brake fluid reservoir in the same position as it was on the Sierra, and not horizontally as I did. I don't know why I haven't thought of that when I did my support!

Actually Sylvain, I think in the original installation on the Sierra the master cylinder was angled upwards, such that the reservoir did actually sit horizontally (at least, when the car was on a flat surface!). So your mount is putting the reservoir into the 'original' orientation I think.

voucht 6th February 2018 11:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jps (Post 105851)
Actually Sylvain, I think in the original installation on the Sierra the master cylinder was angled upwards, such that the reservoir did actually sit horizontally (at least, when the car was on a flat surface!). So your mount is putting the reservoir into the 'original' orientation I think.

You are totally right about the original position of the Sierra M/C. That is certainly why I designed my reservoir mount this way in the first place, and I was correct. But guess I just forgot all about it when I wrote my post above :o
Thanks for the input :)

tkpm 19th February 2018 07:20 PM

Hi Voucht,

Mounting the reservoir is my last job to do on my car, please could you email me your drawing of design for the mounting and also where did you get your fittings from, sorry for being so cheeky.

My email is terryking838@gmail.com

voucht 20th February 2018 12:31 AM

I Terry,

All drawings, measurements, etc. are in a public folder on my Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...mc?usp=sharing

Please read the "Read_me BFRM.pdf", to use the right document(s) according to how you are going to process (BFRM stands for Brake Fluid Reservoir Mount)

Regarding the fittings, I got them from the French company I was forking for at that time, but CBS seem to have the brass ones:
https://www.carbuildersolutions.com/uk/filterSearch?adv=true&cid=0&q=BJOIN&sid=true&isc=t rue

The plastic (Nylon or Acetal Delrin) ones are "Norma" fittings, and I don't really know where to find them in the UK. CBS seem to only have the "Y" kind, but perhaps they can get the straight ones?

Be careful with cheap plastic ones you could find on the web, the material has to be brake fluid resistant!

Sierra master cylinder and reservoir have 1/2 inch inlets/outlets, but I could not find 12mm brake fluid hose. So I had to do with 10mm hose, forced on the reservoir 1/2'' outlets, secured with clamps, and 12-10mm straight union on the master cylinder inlets. So far, absolutely no problem with this set-up.

Hope that will help :) .

Good luck.

tkpm 20th February 2018 12:33 AM

Thanks Voucht

jps 1st October 2018 05:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flyerncle (Post 97963)
You can use the connectors from the Punto to push into the cylinder

Do you know a part name/number so I get those bits?

jps 21st March 2020 08:37 PM

Just posting an update for the reference of others. I found that some versions of the original VW Beetle have the same size fittings into the master cylinder as Ford, and ordered some from eBay (the supplier was called ‘Air-cooled’ I think...)


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