Separated my Brake/Clutch Reservoir Tonight

[Nick S]

Well tonight I decided to finally install my JDP Motorsports stage II separate clutch reservoir kit. It took me a little longer than expected but I was fighting against those darn hose clamps. The factory didn't do me any favors when the installed the clamp on the hose at the master cylinder (next to the firewall).

I will say to anyone else that does this, make sure you put nice thick cotton towels ANYWHERE and EVERYWHERE you can see paint in the engine bay. I tried to cover every spot I possibly could and I think I managed to keep the brake fluid off the paint inside the engine bay. But if I would have simply just put one or two small towels under the brake reservoir I would have had a mess to clean up when I removed the brake master cylinder reservoir.

I thought I would post a pic of the finished work and a pic of the new reservoirs with the caps off. Notice how dark the fluid is in the new clutch reservoir compared to the new brake master cylinder reservoir. Yes there is brake fluid in the new brake master cylinder reservoir it's just nice and clear and not really visible in the pic. But the clutch reservoir is already golden brown and that is after putting new clean fluid in the new reservoir to start with. I had to wiggle the new clutch hose around a little to get the air to come out of the line and allow new clutch fluid to flow in. Once I couldn't get any more air out of the hose I then pumped the clutch pedal about 40 times or so. Before pumping the fluid was crystal clear like it is in the brake master reservoir. After pumping it looked like it does in the second picture.

Oh and my car only has 923 miles on it.

[Lil' Nasty]

very nice install, link you purchased it from if you wouldnt mind?

[CHMSC]

For those that say this doesn't do much think again. This is only a few weeks after doing mine. Look at how dirty the clutch fluid already is.

[h018871]

this looks to be a great mod.
out of ignorance i have two questions:
1). what is the advantage of the stage II kit having the automatic brake reservoir? is there an issue if i keep the manual brake reservoir?
2). what is causing the clutch fluid to get so dirty, so fast? this can't be good for the master or slave pistons

[Nick S]

1. The automatic brake reservoir still has the factory molded in plug where the clutch fluid would normally come out of. So you wouldn't need to have a black EPDM plug clamped onto that in order to keep fluid from leaking out. I went this route so it would be more bullet proof and guaranteed not to have any leaks out of that connection. But I know that several people have done this mod and just put an EPDM cap over the old clutch connection nipple and have not had any issues.

2. From what others have discovered on the site when you push the clutch in it causes the slave cylinder to push the throw out bearing outward. As it does this the shaft that pushed the throw out bearing has to move out of the slave cylinder. When it does this then clutch dust can get onto the outer surfaces of this shaft and then when you let off the clutch pedal it can (and obviously does) pull some of that clutch dust with it past the seal. So then that dust is now inside the slave cylinder and mixes with your clutch fluid...thus making it dirtier faster.

[h018871]

thx Nick S, i'll go with the automatic reservoir for a cleaner looking installation

[Nick S]

Just to warn you it is a bit messier of an installation though because you have to physically remove the old reservoir first and then install the new one. So it's a bit more of an in depth install but I felt I wanted to do it this way. Just make sure when you do the install that you put nice thick cotton towels inside your engine bay and over your fenders and front bumper. Even doubling the layers up in a few spots won't hurt. Basically ANYTHING that is exposed near the brake master cylinder reservoir...COVER it with a towel so you don't get brake fluid on any paint, wires, etc... Murphy's law (What can go wrong will!) dictates that whatever isn't covered by the towels is where the brake fluid will spill onto when you take the old reservoir off!!

[CHMSC]

There is also another advantage of doing the auto brake reservoir or at least in my opinion. You can get your brake system clean or as clean as possible by taking out the old reservoir. I wanted to make sure mine was as clean as I could get it. After the install I ran a couple of cheap bottles of brake fluid through it. Drove it a week and then flushed it all again with motul. Very happy with the results. Brake fluid is still looking like the picture I posted above.

[Lil' Nasty]

Ok so the stage 2 is better thanks for clearing that up for me but why dont you just use a turkey baster to suck up the brake fluid so its not such a mess?.

[CHMSC]

Originally Posted by Lil' Nasty

Ok so the stage 2 is better thanks for clearing that up for me but why dont you just use a turkey baster to suck up the brake fluid so its not such a mess?.

You do. I would also put a hose on the end of it to get as far down as you can. When you look at the master cylinder you will see you can not get everything out because of the way it's made. There is still some left so it makes a mess.

Don't forget to make sure the rubber plugs come out of the bottom of the reservoir or that you take them out before you install the new one. Mine stayed in the master cylinder, I had to pull them out before I put in the auto reservoir.

[toehead93]

Looks like a nIce and easy Upgrade. I have been planning to do this mod once I get my new 1LE.

[Nick S]

Originally Posted by toehead93

Looks like a nIce and easy Upgrade. I have been planning to do this mod once I get my new 1LE.

It is actually a fairly easy install for the most part. The worst part is trying to keep the mess to a minimum and not get brake fluid all over. But the install itself is pretty easy.

The other part that I would have liked to work better would have been having the air bubbles in the new clutch hose come out on their own easier. I had to wiggle the hose around up and down to get the air bubbles to work their way up to the new clutch fluid reservoir. As I wiggled it up/down and then pushed it in towards the brake fluid reservoir I would get air bubbles to squeeze out into the new clutch reservoir. I kept doing this until I couldn't get any more bubbles to come out because otherwise I would have had to bleed out the entire clutch system. And the bleeder screw under the car is not that easy to get to or see.

[CHMSC]

No it's not the easiest to reach the trans bleeder but its not horrible either. Jack the front end up, crawl under from passenger side. Head towards driver side with your feet towards passenger side and I was able to do it fairly easily.

[VR Baron]

Originally Posted by CHMSC

For those that say this doesn't do much think again. This is only a few weeks after doing mine. Look at how dirty the clutch fluid already is.

Looks like my fluid after 16000 miles and 125 auto x laps. Doing this mod next month and replacing the fluid