Clutch master Sight glass repair.

[timgray]

My Clutch master started oozing/leaking around it's sight glass. I have ignored the crazing ugly mess for a couple of years, but this spring she started to leak. Instead of risking my plastic, I bought the watch crystal as mentioned in the other thread and decided to get to work.

 

First, open up the master and become horrified. This goo is all over in there, which means it's in the slave and line. yay, more work ahead of me. Clean it out good, I siphoned out all the old with an old turky baster and rags. then washed it with clean new synthetic DOT3 compatible. you can see the corrosion from the water that was in the fluid. Note: change the fluid more than once every 4 years.

 

second, get a couple of tiny thin screwdrivers and a small hammer, you can go around the outside of the old glass making a gap, to eventually get most of the old rotted plastic out. at this time the little metal piece that has a slot on it will fall out. dont worry, you will not use this anymore.

 

Third, get a small screwdriver and start tapping out the metal insert ring that held the old sight glass assembly. go careful as you can ding up the aluminum housing easily.

 

Finally, clean it all up with a painters prep and get a good strong solvent resistant epoxy. I used JB weld as they claim it's brake fluid resistant and I cant find others that do claim this. but it has to be fully cured, so that means a few days without contact to Brake fluid.

 

that's it. Unless someone finds a way to put a more modern one on the bike, we cant get replacement sight glasses, and Used ones are ready to fail just based on age.

 

I really hope this helps someone, it took me a leap of faith to do it and I freaked out when the sight glass did not fit, that's when I discovered the press fit insert you have to knock out.

[Flyinfool]

Looks good

 

Let us know in a few days how it works.

[Marcarl]

Looks good for the sight glass part, but I would try to clean the rest of the rust out of that master, and flush lots of clean fluid through the system. Don't know what others might think of the following, but I might think of flushing the system with some brake cleaner first.

[timgray]

I have a tiny brass brush that I will clean out the master and then run a Whole lot of new synthetic brake fluid through the system, use it for about a month and then repeat.

 

Problem is Bleeding the clutch is a lot harder than the brakes.

[Prairiehammer]

 

Problem is Bleeding the clutch is a lot harder than the brakes.

 

Seriously?! There must be something really wrong with your clutch hydraulics then. I've bled the clutch in as little as five minutes...on the side of the road...with a hot engine. The clutch almost bleeds itself.

[Condor]

Whew!! That is one double ugly reserve, and I hate to think what the rest of the system looks like inside. I'd think real seriously about replacing the master, slave, and line rather than spending a lot of time chasing ghosts later on....

[dingy]

Whew!! That is one double ugly reserve, and I hate to think what the rest of the system looks like inside. I'd think real seriously about replacing the master, slave, and line rather than spending a lot of time chasing ghosts later on....

 

 

Especially with a signature line like Tim has.

 

 

1983 Venture Standard being rebuilt to like new.

1986 Mint condition very low miles Pontiac Fiero GT

and my wife supports BOTH my money pits! Who'da Thunk?

 

 

Gary

[gscbertrand]

Get yourself a couple of re-build kits and clean the masters and the calipers. Bye the way where did you get the compatible DOT3 synthetic? I have a new set of SS brake and clutch hoses and re-build kits for all the brake parts so for me this the time to switch to the synthetics.

[timgray]

Get yourself a couple of re-build kits and clean the masters and the calipers. Bye the way where did you get the compatible DOT3 synthetic? I have a new set of SS brake and clutch hoses and re-build kits for all the brake parts so for me this the time to switch to the synthetics.

 

http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/bf3.aspx

 

A buddy of mine is an AMSOIL dealer so I get it cheaper than retail. the stuff works great and will not adsorb water like regular brake fluid.

[Pegasus1300]

A quick google search turned up this company that sells replacement sight glasses and they are real glass.http://newrivercyclesalvage.com/sight-glass.html

The information is real hard to real because the dummies used a dark blue background with medium blue font color. but the info is there.Looks like a good choice and they list a phone too. $15.00

[timgray]

There is not enough detail in those photos to see if it's a replacement or just what I am doing with a spacer to keep the little metal piece. I wanted the largest sealing surface, so I opted out of putting in the metal with a slot.

 

I emailed him to see if he will share photos of the actual pieces in the "kit". if it's a real press in like the stock one I'll buy a set of used masters and start over.

[Trader]

Let us know how you make out.

I'm sure others like myself would be interested in replacing the foggy sight glass on ours.

[Condor]

I'll buy a set of used masters and start over.

 

That's what I did when the '83's sight glasses started to turn into something like swiss cheese..... Picked up a very clean set of masters off eBay for very little back 3-4 years ago. The problem is I don't see a lot of them showing up like they used to.... If you do find a set ask and make sure the sight glasses are clear before bidding...

[dingy]

Attached are screen shots from where I got the watch crystals I put in 2 years ago & company info.

 

Web site is www.esslinger.com/

 

The epoxy I used from them has not leaked.

 

Gary

[timgray]

Well it's several days later and no leaks, It looks like it did the day I cleaned everything up and out. Flushed with a full quart of new Synthetic fluid until it came out clear, I'm going to change out the fluid and flush again in a couple of weeks in case it worked up some more crud from inside the line.

 

Interesting thing about the amsoil stuff.

 

The amsoil does not seem to attack ABS plastic, I have a chunk of ABS for repairs and it's not dissolving after 3 days. This might be a very good reason to use it in bikes.