Brake Fluid Reservoir Orientation

[Josh]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

I'm glad we agree