TR2/3/3A Routing of Clutch and Brake Pipes from MC 56 TR3

I found a picture in one of Bill Piggott's books showing that the clutch pipe is routed on the left side of the master cylinder and then crosses over to the right side to enter the cylinder. The brake pipe does the opposite ... passes along right side and crosses over to enter left side of MC. Assume this is correct routing although it seems odd to cross the pipes over in back of the MC.



Not sure why not route them to the "correct" side to start with assuming the pipes are long enough. Perhaps trying to stay on the same side would force too tight a bend on the pipes though now that I think about it while typing this post. Any comments/suggestions?

Looks like the pipes should be installed in the MC first, then the MC attached to support bracket, and then the pipes routed to their connection points. Is this the best approach? If the MC is installed first (as I originally planned), then those pipes look like they would be a real pain to install. Any other ideas or tips here? Thanks for everyone's continued help. Cheers, Mike

The clutch line on the right is much the same as the later cars, so that is probably correct. But the brake routing does seem odd to me. How does the brake line get routed over to the 4-way on the RH side? Or did they actually move the 4-way to the LH side for LHD cars? On the later cars with Girling brakes, the brake line kicks up and over the top above the battery compartment.

Sorry I can't help very much. I've only owned one TR3 with front drum brakes, and didn't do very much with it. The front disc brakes work SO much better; I wouldn't even look at a car with drum brakes after I tried them once.

IIRC, it is possible to remove the access panel and undo the lines from inside the car. I had to pull the MC for rebuilding, and I don't recall removing the lines. But I can't say which is easier. Probably easier to attach them to the MC first for an initial installation.

Hi Randall. Yes the 4 way is on the left side. Yes, I think removing the access panel would be the way to go for maintanance, in fact it is likely the only reasonable way to get at the connections after everything is installed. Reminds me to double check how I installed the access panel ... Think it should be installed so that it can be removed for inside the car. Think I may have ignored that when I made and installed the little panel. I would agree that for a daily driver disks would be a great improvement, but for what I plan I'm hoping the drums will be fine. Cheers, Mike

Here is a photo of the 1954 LHD Works rally TR2 that Gatsonides drove. You can see that both pipes come down the sides of the master cylinder as in the yellow TR.

The panel should definitely come off from inside; I had mine off just last weekend to change the clutch MC.

That's interesting about the 4-way being moved. Makes sense, I guess.

Here is a photo I took last summer when I drove TS2. the second TR2 ever built around England and Wales. The master cylinder is obviously on the RHS but the clutch tube goes up over the battery - then down to the clutch slave cylinder on the LHS. It appears as if the brake tube goes down to where we have the restrictor valve on our later TRs.

Mike:
The line routing looks right to me and yes the 4 way is on the LH side along with the stop light switch.

Sure hope you plan on using DOT 5 brake fluid. Those dual cylinders are known for a slight weeping and DOT 3 or 4 will make a mess of that nicely done paint.

Lou Metelko
Auburn, Indiana
54 TR2 TS981L

Thanks for all of your input and pictures. Much appreciated. Yes, I plan to use DOT5 and will switch over the TR6 soon too. Cheers, Mike