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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Bleedin' Sebring Clutch

Bleedin’ Sebring clutch

Four weeks ‘till I am on a Tour and inspection shows that the Clutch master cylinder is leaking. Not a lot as the fluid in the reservoir has not dropped at any appreciable rate, the purple silicon has changed to a somewhat muddy colour, but if left unattended it will only get worse and probably fail on some high peak abroad.

A new cylinder was obtained and the nearside front web trimmed so that it could be fitted alongside the brake master cylinder in the twin cylinder Sebring pedal box. The lower nut and bolt that hold the cylinder in the pedal box is difficult to access so I turned a custom bolt (picture 1) from some stainless steel. The bolt has a plain head that will pull on the rear of the cylinder web when the thread is tightened, a plain shank that is a push fit (reinforced with Loctite) then a 3/16 UNF thread to accept a suitable lock-washer and nut. No more struggling blind with hard to reach fixings.


This only applies to Spridgets that use a twin cylinder Sebring pedal box.

My car is already fitted with a remote bleed under the bonnet made up of a ‘Goodridge’ type hose from the slave cylinder fitted to a three way junction with one port blanked off and a bleed valve in the other. Last time I attended to this I had sealing problems as the three way was old and tired when I fitted it so I turned a new two way on the lathe.

Everything was ready for bleeding. I have an Eezi-bleed, which is a good bit of kit, but get a poor seal and fluid goes everywhere. I might be retired but everyone else was at work so the old ‘pump the pedal’ way of bleeding was ‘out’.as I could not find an assistant. Or was it?

The Sebring pedals have two holes vertically in line at its very tip. One hole is for the actuating arm clevis pin and the other for attaching the return spring. I used a piece of steel to make an under-bonnet pedal extension. I drilled two holes to correspond with the two holes in the pedal. The lower hole was sized to fit over the projecting clevis pin and the upper hole drilled to clear a 2BA bolt that was projected into the upper pedal hole. (picture 2). I highlighted the extension with some masking tape.

Everything was now within my reach for bleeding. With spanner on the bleed valve, fluid catch tank connected to the bleed valve nipple I could slacken the bleed valve; pump pedal; watch the fluid pass through the clear hose from the valve nipple to the catch tank; lock the bleed valve; release pedal; top up the master cylinder and start all over again like some automaton.

Bleedin’ simple.

Alan Anstead
Kent Rep.
www.masckent.org


Alan Anstead

This picture shows the extension, master cylinder, spanner upon the remote bleed nipple, and fluid catch tank nesting amongst my plug leads.
Alan
www.masckent.org


Alan Anstead

Thanks Alan for sharing your useful 'one person' fix. Definitely saves the search for a willing (or otherwise) assistant!
Motley 5

That's smart thinking Alan. Good work!

BTW I like your relay/fuse installation. Way neater than mine.
Greybeard

:-) was the chopping board an optional extra behind the battery?

Alan
a reid

I have experience of an ezi bleed explosion.

The key thing I found is not to over tighten the cap - the instruction does mention this. And use no more than 15lb of pressure. Try the process 1st with air only to see if a good seal is possible.

If like me you don't have Alan's mechanical skills wrap a strong plastic bag full of waste rags around the MC. At low pressure if there is a leak disconnect from the wheel & the rag will absorb any fluid. Then clean up and try again.
Gavin Rowlesx

This thread was discussed between 11/08/2016 and 12/08/2016

MG Midget and Sprite Technical index

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