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TR6 Brake Unions for a 75 TR6

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bash

bash

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Well, the work on my TR6 has begun, and I now have some parts to make a start on the brakes and suspension so I can get the old girl on the road!

Last time I changed brake hoses on a Triumph I managed to break one of the old pipes as well, so I want to have the parts to make new pipes if I need to, and maybe over the winter I will change all of the brake pipes to be safe. Now I need to work out what type of unions to buy. I believe that the calipers on a 75 are metric threaded, but what about the rest of the system? For example, the master cylinder doesn't seem to change at the same time as the calipers, so do I need a mixture of metric and imperial sizes?

Any help you can offer greatfully received, as ever!

Oh, and doesn't anyone use Copaslip in America? I know a lot of people in England who wouldn't start work on a car without a tub on hand. Anyone know what the local alternative is? Permatex anti-seize?
 
British Leyland made an attempt to converting to Metric on the mid and late TR6 but as far as they got was the little S-curved brake line on the front caliper. My 73 was the first transition year, I think. All I know is I have a brand-new set of these babies in my parts box that is not right for my car. I guess if I tried, I could figure out which thread design the extras I have are, and would be happy to send them to someone in need.

Bill
 
Thanks for the reply, Bill. I am buying some unions from a guy in England and was being a bit cheap, really - a pack with enough unions for two cars is only costing me about $12, so I guess I will order a set of Metric and a set of UNF and just see what fits where!
 
The '75 uses the metric fitting at the caliper (TRF p/n 312550 - left & 312551 - right). If you start trying to place unions in-line to adapt the thread styles it is going to get real crowded in the small space available here.

It was my understanding that the change from imperial threads to metric happened during the '72 model year at around CC81000. This change was required as Girling had changed the threading on the caliper, hence the addition of the "M" to the caliper part number. The little curled pipe from the flex hose to the caliper has a metric thread on the claiper end and an imperial on the hose end.

All other fittings used the imperial fittings no matter what the model year. A word of caution, in addition to the unique fittings used by Triumph, the flare on the pipe ends is different than what is readily available over the counter here. I think I heard it called a 'bubble' flare?

TRF offers all the required pipes, hoses and unions. Prices aren't too bad when on sale. Sure beats leaking brake fluid!
 
I'll chime in here just because I'm changing stuff on the brakes right now - I just washed up. Changing everything is by far the best idea. You will almost certainly end up breaking something again...
 
[ QUOTE ]
A word of caution, in addition to the unique fittings used by Triumph, the flare on the pipe ends is different than what is readily available over the counter here. I think I heard it called a 'bubble' flare?

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh dear. What do you mean by unique fittings? Aren't they standard 3/16 inch pipe fittings? It hadn't occurred to me that bubble flare tools aren't available here - does anyone know of a supplier over here, or should I ask my mother to bring one over when she visits next month? Now there's a challenge - getting my mother into a car parts store and having her buy a specific tool....

I don't know how much TRF offers brake pipes for when they are on sale, but I can't justify spending the current $270 for a set when all of the parts are only costing me about $30. At least so I thought until you scared me with the mention of unique fittings!
 
Bubble flare tools are readily available - you can even get them on amazon for heavens sake. One tool I got recently that I really like that you may want to consider are the brake pliers that Eastwood sell (do a search on brake pliers). I haven't looked elsewhere for the same thing - ymmv. I found them to be really useful when trying to make tighter radius bends.
 
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