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Brake Fluid
Posted: Tue Jan 25, 2011 11:25 am
by Howard ochocke
I am rebuilding an Airheart master cylinder and 150 brake caliper. What are the pros and cons or using DOT3 versus mineral based fluid? Also, who is a good source of rebuild parts?
Re: Brake Fluid
Posted: Tue Jan 25, 2011 2:13 pm
by Terry Armstrong
Howard,
All three (3) of my vintage karts have Airheart braking systems with Red Mineral oil in them. Pro's of the mineral oil that I see are: (1) Oil is NOT Hydroscopic, i.e. Won't absorb water like DOT 3. So you don't have to worry about moisture contaminating and causing corrosion. (2) If you spill the mineral oil on the paint, it won't attack the paint. Just wipe it off. (3) You can buy the mineral oil, which is a MIL-H-5605 type fluid from Airports or Aircraft supply houses like Aircraft Spruce for reasonable cost.........Still probably not as available as DOT 3 though.
As far as rebuild kits, o-rings for mineral oil are Nitrile rubber and you can buy them cheaply from McMaster-Carr. If you need pistons/other parts, try Terry Ives or Airheart themselves. Look on this site under "Parts Sources".
Hope this helps.
Terry
Re: Brake Fluid
Posted: Tue Jan 25, 2011 2:45 pm
by Terry Bentley
Totally forget regular automotive brake fluid period. But instead of red mineral oil, the later brake systems, (insert Enginetics, MCP here) uses Dot 5 Silicone brake fluid. It is very functional and readily available at most parts houses. Back in the old days of red mineral, purple silicone was not around to be used. Today its used in plenty of racing systems and many restored classic automobiles because of its shelf life and ability of not absorbing moisture that destroys everything. I have been seriously wanting to flush out my Austin Healey 3000 brake system and change over to Silicone, since the car doesnt get driven that much and British cars are terrible about brake failures due to contamination of brake fluid. The basic design of all the American brake systems are the same, based on improved versions of the original Airheart. I am not 100%, but believe Silicone will work on all types of rubber, so no need to change over from one type to another. But then again, this is just one other persons opinion.