Brakes...again

ScottDate: September 2013

Ok, I have been traveling almost non-stop between mid-June and mid-Sept., so now its time to get back to work. I needed to do some tweaking to the brake system between the brake reservoir and master cylinder. The power brake kit that I bought recommends mounting the master cylinder reservoir's to the firewall. Unfortunately, I can not do this because I am running fuel injection and the intake manifold is in exactly the same place as where the reservoirs would need to be mounted. Since we have not figured out the physics of having matter from two objects occupy the same physical space I needed a plan.

I decided to purchase fancy brushed Al reservoirs that had threaded ports on the bottom so I could use some connectors. You can see them in the center  of this picture.

Of course, the plastic inserts into the master cylinder are 1/2" ports and the ones coming out of the reservoirs are 1/4" problems tend to arise. But hey, I'm a handy guy, so I can just fabricate the new connectors. Here's what I did.

I bought some brass fittings, 90 deg turn with a tube fitting, and some brass end caps. I drilled out the ends of the end caps and then I needed to make them round instead of nuts. Since I don't have a lathe, I did the next best thing, I chucked them up in a drill.

I then used a file to slowly shape the end caps. 

Once I got them to the desired diameter, I threaded a SS washer on the 90 bend and tightened the end cap on. Making two to replace the plastic inserts into the master cylinder.

Once installed, they don't look too bad. Let's just hope that they don't leak! I think this is much better than the plastic and trying to find expanders or reducing fittings.