Some good news, some bad.
In case you didn’t know, I’d had to replace one of the brakes pipes on Lucky (my Discovery 2), from front to rear.
I was sat at a set of lights, on my way to work, foot on the brakes – as you do – when the pedal went… ‘pffft’ and hit the floor.
“Now that’s interesting” is NOT what I said. Instead, plenty of four letter words were hurled at the car for letting me down again.
The drive home that night was mildly interesting to say the least. Even more so as I’ve a a few stonking great hills to cross. And with only one wheel seemingly doing the braking it was a tense journey.
That weekend I dug out the copper brake pipe, ripped out the old pipe from Lucky – that was more rust than pipe – and fabricated a new, two piece, pipe to replace it.
Two piece because trying to thread a one piece pipe from the rear off-side wheel to the front near-side wheel would’ve proved a challenge too far. I’m guessing, in the factory, the one piece brake pipes are fitted to the rolling chassis before the body goes on.
Anyhoo.
A few weeks back the brake warning light came on. First thought was “dammit, now the handbrake’s not seating right home.” Something I’d seen before in Trigger – Dick’s Disco 1.
Turns out I was wrong.
A quick check of the brake fluid reservoir revealed a desperately empty brake fluid reservoir. I topped it up and carried on with life.
Fast forward a few weeks later and – before the light came on – I realised something was up when, foot on brake at the same lights, a minute or so later the car started creeping forward.
Clearly fluid was escaping the system somewhere.
One night that week I quickly struggled under the back of Lucky, torch in hand, to see the chassis soaked in what turned out to be brake fluid.
No surprise there.
Quick shine around with the torched revealed the fluid was escaping from where the two pipes are joined.
To be honest, I wasn’t overly sure what had happened except that culprit was the join.
The good news:
Today, with Lucky up on ramps, and me wielding torches, brake and clutch cleaner, and spanners, I realised what the actual problem was…
…when fitting the pipes before, in my efforts to not tighten them down too tight (because copper’s a soft metal, you can damage the ends if you tighten them down too tight) I’d just not done them up enough.
Oopsy. School boy error. (and that’s why I don’t work on other people’s cars – only my own)
A quick tighten down and it’s job done. I think.
I’m 95% sure it’s sorted but we’ll see over the next few weeks.
But (isn’t there always a but?) the fat lady isn’t singing just yet… it’s far from over.
The bad news:
I knew, when I replaced the brake pipe before, that the other pipe was gonna need replacing at some point because it, too, was also more rust than pipe. Sadly, I spotted the tell-tale signs of dampness around one of the pipe fittings (where the metal pipe switches to a flexi hose at the rear wheel).
So the bad news is the other brake pipe’s gonna need ripping out and replacing much sooner than expected.
I guess part of the thing about owning old Landys is questioning why we own old Landys?!
Honestly though, I wouldn’t change Lucky for the world.
Old Landys Rule!
Phil.
https://shop.oldlandysrule.com
PS. I thought I was gonna have to split the pipe apart at the joint, re-burr the end so it creates a seal when tightened down, and then refit. Turns out I didn’t – which was a handy time saver. But if I had, here’s a little tip for you: Find a flexi-hose on the brake line you’re working on, and clamp it tight with a pair of mole grips – this’ll stop most of the fluid from dripping out when you split the pipe (or, for example, removing a pipe from a brake caliper).
