How to remove the brake lamp relay

I need to remove the brake lamp relay on a BT7 but it is located under the air duct on the left front inner wing. Does the air duct need to be removed to access the screws or is there an easy way. Thanks, Nick

I would think removing the air dust IS the easy way.

Hey Nick,
I seem to recall being able to get to the switch from underneath. Be careful when you take it off as if you do not get any air into the system will not have to bleed your brakes. Also, watch for leaks after you replace it as the current available new ones I used all leaked brake fluid after installing. The taper on the fitting did not exactly match up with the taper on the brake line. This was on a 1958 BN6 but would imagine same brake light switch used on a BT7. Of course if you can easily remove your air duct, that would be easier as Healeyblue mentioned. But that can be a bear to take off and get back on. Anyway good luck with it !
Regards,
Mike

Mike
I think he is referring to the signal lamp relay on the fender well, not the brake light switch. Once the duct is removed it is easily accessed. I believe the screw go into welded nuts so you should not have to access any nuts in the wheel well just the phillips head screws in the engine bay.

Oops, would have helped if I read it more closely, did say left side and the brake light switch is on the right side ! Call it a senior moment ! Nice looking before and after shot BTW - looks beautiful !

healeyblue said:

Mike
I think he is referring to the signal lamp relay on the fender well, not the brake light switch. Once the duct is removed it is easily accessed. I believe the screw go into welded nuts so you should not have to access any nuts in the wheel well just the phillips head screws in the engine bay.

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Thanks for the reply guys, I can't reach the screws with the air duct in place and it's been 35 years since I put the air duct and relay in during restoration. How does the air duct come out? Looks like the fender needs to come off!

I think you may be able to just pull it off the front air valve and push the hose back out of the way. There should be room behind the tube in the engine bay for it to go in order to get enough room to access the screws.
Jim

I did this recently on my BT7, and all I can say is it's a pain in the you-know-what. The only way I could figure to get to it was to move that air tube, and that is NOT an easy job. By removing it from the front end, I was eventually able to stretch it enough to slide it down into the space between the inner and out fenders and get access to the relay box. It's not something you want to do more than once, so you may want to consider purchasing a new solid state unit. They look identical to the old relay box, but they are a lot more reliable.

Keith

The box in my restored picture is the new solid state box but with the old original cover restored and put on the new box.

You could be a bit brutal and reshape your air duct by hand to get at those screws, putting it back can be a bit of a pain though but do-able, I have put a slight easement in mine just for that purpose.



Bob