About five months ago I described a problem concerning the brakes on a TR6:
They would be fine for a week or so and then fail after backing the car out
of the garage. Master cylinder, rear drums and rear cylinders had all been
replaced. No signs of a leak.
About a month ago, while at a Morgan club meeting at "Motor Head" (D.C.
area), one of the mechanics (sorry, I don't know his name) suggested that the
flexible brake lines might be bad. He said they sometimes fail internally,
acting like a valve, ie., fluid moves in one direction but not the other.
Sounded implausible to me but since I'd tried most everything else...
Coincidentally, the Moss catalog arrived with a special on braided brake
hoses, so I ordered a set.
Installation was a breeze (see note at end). A buddy and I flushed the lines
and bled them. What a difference! The brakes have never, ever felt this
firm. VERY highly recommended, with the following exceptions:
(1) The kit is advertised as coming with all washers and fittings. Not true,
unless you like reusing the old copper crush-washer at the t-fitting in rear.
Bad idea. A local parts house had one for 60 cents, but we wasted an hour
in the middle of the job hunting it. Boo.
(2) Moss's shipping charge is ridiculous! They base it on value, not
weight. I don't have the exact figures in front of me but Blue Label UPS ran
about $17 for a kit that barely weighs a pound.
Aside from those negatives, the braided lines are terrific and the problem
SEEMS to have gone away. I'm astonished by the difference in feel. These
will go on all of my cars in the future.
One more bit to this story: Keeping true to the "law of conservation of
broken cars", (if you fix one car another, somewhere, will break,) the TR ran
great all weekend until I had to get to the airport, then it started, coughed
and simply died. Good spark, good fuel to the carbs, but not a hint of life.
Jump start didn't help and it had to be towed. I suspect some kind of giant
vacuum leak not getting fuel into the cylinders. But that will have to wait
until I'm back in Dallas.
- Carl Dreher
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