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I am an idiot

Posted: Sun Dec 15, 2013 2:30 pm
by Max Welton
Card carrying and official.

After changing out the master cylinder in my 68, I grabbed a bottle from the shelf and recharged the whole brake system with ... muriatic acid I have for cleaning the garage floor. So tomorrow I get to order a set of calipers, rear brake cylinders, soft lines and another new master cylinder. :roll:


Good thing I don't work on other people's cars.

Maybe I should offer to do a web site for the federal government. I may be over-qualified.

Max

Re: I am an idiot

Posted: Sun Dec 15, 2013 3:06 pm
by Piledriver
:lol: Hey, at least you figured out how to clean the rust from the inside of the old steel lines in the pan and test for pinholes...

Re: I am an idiot

Posted: Sun Dec 15, 2013 3:29 pm
by helowrench
Piledriver wrote::lol: Hey, at least you figured out how to clean the rust from the inside of the old steel lines in the pan and test for pinholes...
you need to come over here and clean the coffee out of my keyboard now.

Re: I am an idiot

Posted: Sun Dec 15, 2013 3:38 pm
by aircooledtechguy
D'oh!! Yeah, that sucks, but hey; it happens. I'll bet it won't happen again. :wink:

The only thing that separates you from most other folks is that you'll admit your mistake. . . Don't worry about it. . .

Re: I am an idiot

Posted: Sun Dec 15, 2013 3:46 pm
by dorkie
I guarantee I got you beat. I have bought parts for a megasquirt build and KNOWLINGLY thrown them away (YES, ON PURPOSE) and bought them again because i get pissed off and blah blah blah. so yeah, dude, don't even worry about it. think about how stupid the average person is and 50% of the population is stupider! hahaha. i got 'em all beat.

Re: I am an idiot

Posted: Sun Dec 15, 2013 4:20 pm
by RICKY-R69
You all will fit in nicely with the South African Government!

Re: I am an idiot

Posted: Sun Dec 15, 2013 4:45 pm
by Max Welton
Today, it was quite a bit warmer and I could easily smell the difference. And since I wore 6 mil nitril gloves, I didn't burn my hands.

I hope the hard lines are OK.

Max

Re: I am an idiot

Posted: Sun Dec 15, 2013 7:49 pm
by Marc
Most likely your present rear wheel cylinders are 22.2mm (311 611 067C), but originally VW outfitted the drum-brake Squares with 23.8mm rear wheel cylinders (~15% larger area). The latter were adopted as fronts on the drum-brake Supers so they're readily available - 361 611 067A
Do you ever feel like the Squareback has too much forward brake bias (premature front lockup on slippery pavement)? If so, make the best of this situation and step up the rear W/C size.
Regardless, do be sure that both new parts are the same size- some parts-sellers aren't aware of the difference and sell both parts interchangeably for both Super front & Type III rear.
I don't imagine that the hard lines will be damaged any, and of course you're going to blow out/rinse them before closing up the system. Use up whatever DOT 3 fluid you have around while flushing and then get some DOT 4 (or 5.1 but NOT 5) as the final load.
Could be that you're being overly conservative and the rubber components would survive with aggressive flushing, but brakes is brakes and I imagine you don't live in the flatlands so I'll not try to change your mind about replacing them all.

Re: I am an idiot

Posted: Sun Dec 15, 2013 9:00 pm
by Max Welton
Thanks. The car has always stopped well. The parts were all new in 2007. I just don't how the seals have reacted to an acid bath. :cry:

Max

Re: I am an idiot

Posted: Mon Dec 16, 2013 6:01 am
by helowrench
Max Welton wrote:Today, it was quite a bit warmer and I could easily smell the difference. And since I wore 6 mil nitril gloves, I didn't burn my hands.

I hope the hard lines are OK.

Max
Isopropyl alcohol works very well to flush hard lines.
then compressed air to blow them dry.

Re: I am an idiot

Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2013 1:25 am
by Piledriver
If you are flushing acid, go water (profuse)>air >IPA>air> brake fluid.

It is a somewhat unusual deal for most to need to flush acid out of lines, but I have needed to do it at work from time to time.

Re: I am an idiot

Posted: Tue Dec 24, 2013 11:25 am
by Max Welton
OK, just finished replacing all the brake cylinders, front calipers, front flex hoses and the master cylinder. Not problems flushing out the reservoir, feeder lines and hard lines.

I cut open one of the front hoses and it didn't seem to have suffered noticeably so I elected to leave the rears in place for now. I do have a new pair of hoses for the rear. So I was able to get pressure in the system, but it requires some pumping every time. Probably still have some air in the lines, but I am leaving it till later this week. The next few days are pure family time. :-)

Max

Re: I am an idiot

Posted: Tue Dec 24, 2013 11:35 am
by supaninja
I don't think the acid hurt anything, it doesn't affect rubber and only attacks the metal if has iron oxide (rust) on it, Aluminum is a different story. You are a shoe in to work for our government ;)

Re: I am an idiot

Posted: Tue Dec 24, 2013 3:50 pm
by Max Welton
Ah yes. My day job. :-D

Max

Re: I am an idiot

Posted: Wed Dec 25, 2013 12:32 pm
by E_bug
Did the acid give a nice pedal feel..? :D

Dont worry i put ATF once :D