Mark,
Thanks for the warning, but unfortunately, it came about 18 hours too
late. :^(
I got a little too... enthusiastic yesterday evening, and broke my
reservoir. Once the damage was done, I was able to extract what was
left of the front inlet nipple with a pair of Vice-Grips. It was retained
just as you described, but I'm not sure whether there's really any way
to remove it intact other than by sheer luck. The spring clip on mine
had evidently succumbed to the traditional British threadlocking agent:
rust. I lubricated it for several days beforehand, but apparently the
only decrease in friction was between the nylon reservoir and the clip
ring.
Maybe if one had a thin, narrow, flexible bit of metal it might be
possible to fish around down inside the inlet port and manage to get the
clip ring to ride up out of its groove without damage to the reservoir,
but I doubt it. (Tom at Dave Bean Engineering says he doesn't think
these things are really meant to be removed -- Nelson Yaple, on the
Lotus mailing list, warned me of this too.)
By the way, a new reservoir for the tandem master cylinder costs $49.00
from Dave Bean. Just the M/C rebuild kit costs $49.50 -- I may have a
line on what's billed as a "seal kit" locally for $18, so I'm holding
off on my Bean order until I can check into the more reasonable
alternative (tomorrow, I hope).
If you have the Chris Neal price list handy, I wouldn't mind hearing
what they want for the reservoir.
If your 74 has the tandem M/C, do you remember whether there was
anything retaining the front piston/seal assembly in the bore? (When I
say front, I mean relative to the car -- so in other words, the piston
that's clear down in the bowels of the M/C casting, furthest from the
actuator rod.) The guy at Dave Bean didn't think there was anything
retaining it, and I can't see anything, but mine doesn't want to come
out, and if I compress it and then let go, it stops with a distinctly
metallic sound... . I'll try compressed air tonight, if I can get into
my garage around the syphilitic druids who are painting my apartment
complex. (No offense to either syphilis sufferers or druids intended.)
-coryc
>I have a 74 Europa Special and have taken the master cylinder out and
>apart. Beware of trying to remove the front inlet. On my car, the
>plastic piece is a cone on a narrower tube (sort of like an arrowhead
>rotated 360 degrees along the arrow shaft). This, in turn, is held into
>the master cylinder housing by a circular spring clip which lives in a
>groove in the mc.
>
>I will attempt some ascii art. The 00's are the part of the circular
>spring clip that appears in this cross-section.
>
> | | | |
> 00 | | 00
> |__| |__|
> |\ /|
> | \ / |
>
>Unfortunately, my mc needs to be replaced (it is pitted) and I am
>thinking of trying to find a dual master cylinder arrangement so I can
>bypass the vacuum servos (If, in your brake odyssey, you should come
>across anyone who has done this, would you please let me know.)
>Nevertheless, I think you might just be able to fish the spring clip out
>of the groove, thereby saving the life of your plastic reservoir (I have
>never performed this operation.). Should you fail and the reservoir gets
>wrecked, that part is listed in the Dave Bean (Calif.) and Chris Neal
>(Britain) Lotus parts catalogs (It should also be available at other
>fine Lotus parts stores.) Good luck,
>
> Mark Turner
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