Tim’s P6 stays on the drive… he'd rather it didn’t
They say that pride comes before a fall… well, the very weekend after my last report in these pages arrived with a satisfying slap on the doormat, EDNaR failed to proceed. To be honest, she failed to leave the driveway at all. My left foot went straight into the plush beige carpet, without any hint of the clutch actuating.
Extracting myself from the comfy interior, I looked underneath to find the inevitable puddle of disappointment – in this case DOT4. At least I could see the root of the problem, a fairly significant leak from the slave cylinder; dripping from the rubber boot, the rubber boot was all baggy and was generally looking rather worn out.
Being a Lucas/Girling system, I knew that rebuild kits are easy to source and very cheap.
A quick look on a famous auction site beginning with ‘E’ located a rebuild kit for just £5. Now that’s my sort of number, so one was ordered and speedily despatched by a chap in Norwich.
Removing the old cylinder was actually relatively easy – or would have been had I been able to get the old girl up on ramps, as per all the advice. Thankfully my not-quite-so-svelte frame was able to wriggle underneath. Two bolts and a flexi-pipe later, the cylinder was sitting on the bench ready for its new rubbers.
If you’ve never had a go at replacing the rubbers in a hydraulic cylinder, there is a degree of fiddle, but also a zen-like feeling when all the bits are back together again and you are heading back to the car with your repaired cylinder. It’s a great feeling, as you’ve effectively recycled a part and done your bit for the environment (or something like that).
That smug face ebbed away fairly swiftly, though, once I started trying to bleed my rebuilt cylinder. Fluid oozed from the rubber boot and there were more bubbles than a bunch of hoorays at the St Ledgers. Something was wrong. Sensing that my ire was rising, I walked away and shut the garage door. Perhaps my anger would persuade the car to fix itself while I made a cup of tea… it didn’t.
Second fix
This time, I decided to empty the Morgan piggy bank to the tune of £19.99 for a cheap replacement slave cylinder from another eBay vendor. After all, a slave cylinder is a slave cylinder, right? How
