Moss Motors, Ltd

I just installed a rebuilt clutch slave cylinder on my '72 B/GT that I am allowing my 18 year old son to drive.  This car is mechanically quite good but will need significant rocker rust repair.  For now its an occasional toy for him.  I rebuilt a slave I had around.  We removed the slave from the hose instead of removing hose and slave as a unit.  The rebuilt slave met the hose about 180 degrees different from the one we removed.  We carefully twisted the hose to mount the rebuilt slave.  The hose did not kink and the clutch works fine.  The hose is not original and seems quite pliable.  I know we took a shortcut.  QUESTION  Have we created a potential failure?  To disconnect the other end of the hose to eliminate the "twist" seems to require pulling the starter for access.  Has anyone had experience?  If failure is quite likely we'll spend the additional time to pull the starter and rebleed the system.  Thanks

I'd say if it didn't kink while empty you should be OK.  Age of the line should be a concern whether twisted or not.  Then again, it's just the clutch - not brakes.

barry,

With forty years of experience as a professional working on MGBs, amongst other Brit cars, I can tell you that you did not create a potential failure. What you created was and absolute certainty that the hose will indeed fail. I've seen it so many times in so many ways I'm virtually haunted by it. Take that cylinder and hose off and do it the way it says to do it in the manual. I know how strong the temptation is, my friend, as doing it the proper way is a pain, but this shortcut will be more painful in the end, for sure. Enjoy.

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Motorbill
From Lola to Land Rover, If it's British and has wheels, it's likely I've bloodied me knuckles thereupon

I determined that I had better 'untwist' the hose the day after I posted my original question because I felt much more pressure in the clutch, thinking that it must have resulted from squeezing the fuild through the narrowed hose section.  The last time I changed a hose I had the engine out.  Accessing the top of the hose, even with the starter removed, was as big a pain in the A-- as I had anticipated.  Further, I think the top of the hose and the locknut must be some of the few Witworths, since I could find nothing would fit except crescent wrenches.  I broke loose the pipe fitting and unwound the 'twist' with virtually no loss of fluid.  Ironically, the clutch still is a hard push, suggesting that it was not thoroughly bled before the repair.  Thanks for the response.