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Darwin Award-quality question


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Chaps

I know that this question is toe-curlingly obvious and I'm going to look an idiot even posing it, but... here goes:

Are any of you aware of a plastic glue that is brake fluid resistant?

To explain: the Jag has many things of beauty on it and one of these is the short-living remote brake reservoir, early version. Being plastic and nearly as old as me, it has developed a certain incontinence, and nervously dribbles its contents into the rear of the engine bay. Not good.

These reservoirs being so rare (and not available from any of the usual rogues), I'm reluctant to deprive this particular hen of another tooth and was hoping to repair the loose cap (and whatever else transpires to be leaking).

reservoir.thumb.jpg.d3b28f1ef1378b6c130b81268266b45d.jpg

Right, Beano down my pants in readiness for the kicking.

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from memory petropatch is immune to brake fluid, however my memory is wrt the old-style stuff that came as a bit of canvas and a bottle of grey liquid that you painted on, not the modern epoxy. No idea if the old stuff is still availabe: probably not coz it worked superbly well so probably made from asbestos, lead, mercury, arsenic and baby seals eyelashes!

Since brake fluid is supplied in polyethylene or polypropylene bottles a hot-glue gun using polyethylene or polypropylene rods might well do the trick. If the leak is indeed from the seam that you indicate then I'm not sure why it would be a safety issue.

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Don’t see why epoxy wouldn’t be brake fluid resistant….. easy enough to trial.

Bigger problem, with most glues, not just brake fluid resistant ones, is getting them to stick reliably to plastic. Especially old, contaminated plastic!

Technically, John’s suggestion is the one, aesthetically….. :confused:

PS. This is a Colin question… @Escadrille Ecosse

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1 hour ago, RogerH said:

Is it plastic or a form of Nylon

Good question - it could well be a form of Nylon. There are no markings to be seen, but I will drain it and remove it for inspection.

I'm not able to tackle it this weekend - I'm about to head off to NL to be a spectator at Cadet No.2's defence of his final project and, hopefully, return with his newly-minted BSc in Mechanical Engineering. His final project was a study of the use of composite materials as springs in micromeasurement. Blimey.

I've bought tickets for the VW Museum at Wolfsburg for the return journey, and we plan to indulge in an excess of roadside greasy spoons, to make it a proper road trip.

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5 minutes ago, JohnD said:

I thought to ask Google, and this was first hit: https://www.twi-global.com/technical-knowledge/faqs/faq-what-techniques-can-i-use-to-weld-nylon#:~:text=To dielectric weld nylon film,flow and hence to weld.

Everything you ever wanted to know about welding nylon!

John

The Welding Institute! As a newly-extruded architect, I worked on their vision for the next ten years... in 1990. The chap in charge of the study was a Billy Bunter lookalike, who would only speak to my practice's Senior Partner, Richard, and referred to me as "the chap who carries Richard's bag".

My career has been sort of downhill from there.

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22 hours ago, Nick Jones said:

Technically, John’s suggestion is the one, aesthetically….. :confused:

"Aesthetically"?   Wot?   Are we now the Royal Academy?   Anyway, Paul will be most familiar with "Form follows function", otherwise  'If it works, use it'.

John

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Just now, JohnD said:

"Aesthetically"?   Wot?   Are we now the Royal Academy?   Anyway, Paul will be most familiar with "Form follows function", otherwise  'If it works, use it'.

John

Aesthetics may well be in the eye of the beholder but all other things being equal visually pleasing is better than not and always nice to keep the original part if at all possible.

As for repaing the leak.

Nylon really needs welding That reservoir probably isn't nylon, based on it being difficult to form nylon with big thick flanges like the one in the Jag.

It will be another of the hard heat resisting plastics like PEEK or similar. Older MC reservoirs like that would have been bonded together using either a hot glue or a two part flexible adhesive, probably some type of acrylic.

Difficult to repair but give the way the top sits over the bottom and that it's still structually sound and all you need to do is fix the leak you might be able to seal it with a fillet of glue around the flange.

It will need to be scrupulously clean which will be time consuming but you could give it a go with something like this

https://www.easycomposites.co.uk/permabond-TA4610-acrylic-adhesive

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  • 4 weeks later...

Chaps

A brief post script to my idiotic question. The Jag's brake fluid reservoir wasn't cracked or perforated, but the outstanding engineering design of the assembly meant that the container was pressed against the chunky braided vacuum control pipe that can be seen passing behind it in the picture at the top. When I dismantled it, I found that the pressure had deformed the body and popped the snap-on top off. It must have been like this for... decades. The old one is useless, the top stripped of its holding rim, but I'm loathe to throw away a piece of yellowed 54 year-old nylon history.

My new go-to Jag forum, populated by (almost) Sideways-quality people, came up with a source for a replacement vessel in excellent condition and, with a slight adjustment to the bracket geometry, facilitated by a large hammer, the 'new' reservoir fits and has yet to show any propensity to leak.

A very acceptable outcome.

IMG_1987.thumb.jpg.7dbb1b2da26b9ed36ec4db23d27c628f.jpg

Default position: fluid container may vary

Paul

 

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11 hours ago, Escadrille Ecosse said:

An outstanding outcome. :thumbsup:

That really is a lovely lookig car y'know..

I thank you kindly, Colin. Here's a shot taken recently in the sunny hinterlands:

IMG_1227.thumb.jpg.84eaedd10132e80608ecabe98dd23006.jpg

The front bumper droop is symetrical and on the to-do list.

Paul

 

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