Thread: 101 brake and clutch fluid reservoir modification

I was told by r'co that reputable company that does car parts, that early vehicles can't take silicone-well there you go obvious to me if you are running it in your 101 Ron that myth is busted!!
And you made no seal changes?


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I have only used one brand of silicone fluid, called :Russel: brand.
It is made in the USA, silicone fluid in general is expensive and hard to find.
Some motor bike shops use it and stock it, as it works well with handle bar mounted master cylinders and doesnt take the paint off the fuel tank if spilled.
Silicone fluid and normal brake fluid will work together in the same system without any problem, but why would you want to do that ?
Silicone fluid is as easy to bleed though your brake system as any other normal brake fluid.
Silicone fluid doesnt affect rubber components ( they wouldnt be allowed to sell it as brake fluid other wise)
Silicone fluid is not hydrostopic and will not asorb water like normal brake fluid.
Normal brake fluid is designed to take in water/moisture to a certain point to try and still keep the boiling point of the fluid high.
Normal brake fluid is recommended by vehicle makers to be changed every few years(or less ) and the fluid is some times colour coded to show when it is full of moisture and needs replacing (changes from blue to brown colour).
Normal brake fluid will cause corrosion of components in time.
Normal brake fluid has no real lubrication effects on metal components.
Silicone brake fluid will allow water/moisture to stay in its normal form and if allowed to collect to much will cause brake fade during heavy braking.
Therefore silicone fluid should be bleed though from time to time , to ensure there is no moisture/water in the system.
If we do what we are suppose to do and change the fluid as per makers specs then there is no problems, just like normal brake fluid.
What silicone fluid does do is lubricate components and help seals and cups etc to do there job just so much better.
I am finding longer component life and better sealing/ longer life of seals and cups etc.
All the stories you read or hear off silicone fluid I have found no thruth in practice and I can only guess they may have come from the first silicone fluids produced in the 1960s....... today is a different story.
My 1945 studebaker, 1960 Willys jeep, 101 Landrover,130 Defender(now sold on),and various bikes running are all running silicone fluid for many years with out any trouble.
I have found hydraulic clutch systems seals and cylinders last just so much longer too.
There is nothing new about all of this, my Alvis stalwart is running mineral oil in the brake system and forklifts and off road machinery has also for years, but special rubbers and seals are used and the reason is for longer life due to the lubrication effects of the working fluid.

Cheers Ron, appreciate your input mate .


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I just though I would dig up a old thread.
The old brake fluid transfer from one reservoir to another on 101 landrovers is caused by a seal leaking in the brake master cylinder.
It appears never to have been much of a problem is army service, yet many people have problems now, even with master cylinders with perfect bores.
In Australia the master cylinder kits are seem to have advailable in recent times,the seal that divides the to sides of the brake fluid circult does not fit that well and brake fluid transfers from one circult to another causing one fluid reservoir to empty and the other to over flow.
A quad ring from a universal quad ring grab kit will fit and work in place of the supplied seal.
See pics below.

Silcone brake fluid also helps that seal/ quad ring do its job due to its better sealing and lubrication properties.
It should be noted.
I have learnt that silicone brake fluid is made by a large company in the USA and is good stuff being purple in colour.( Regardless of brand names )
There is another supply out of China which gives a lot of problems( Chinese copy cat fluid) and it is not purple, so beware.
It is always better to fix a problem at its cause than to rig up ways to hide the problem.
I am a plant/truck/diesel/ LPG/out board mechanic for more than 30 years.
Posting this now is letting some steam out as I cannot help on another thread site.


This may be worth a look too.
http://www.aulro.com/afvb/101-forwar...-report-7.html

just for the record on my 101 the brake system has been working for many/many years without undue trouble with silicone fluid and now with the disc brakes.
My fitting of a quad ring to the master cylinder has been without problems too.

Another good idea on my 101 done by some one else, and works a treat is a canvas cover that slips over the reservoirs and stops any U/V rays from destroying the plastic.( a great idea for australias climate)
You can see the canvas bag over the reservoirs in this pic



Good luck
Ron

These are still easily found if anyone wants original style reservoirs (LMS Lichfield in the UK)... I used to fit these new to Matbro Telehandlers in the UK several years ago as std fit...

The single reservoir is used on some older Aussie caravans for their hydraulic brakes. As such these are on the draw bar and out on the sun. They are UV stabilised and have black rather than white lids.

I have the landrover reservoirs but with the caravan lids - bought from my local trailer builder.

My reservoirs with balancing pipe.