Red Hose Syndrome

[th4neuk]

It seems I have a case of the Red Hose Syndrome which is causing the problem with the gearchange on first and second. Was sat in a bit of traffic the other day and as things got hotter it got harder to get first and second. I've looked at Andy Whittaker's site but are there any other pitfall's/problems to be encountered when changing to the stainless braided hose????

Ta

Alan
89 Turbo

[cnh1990]

Drilling the body to enlarge the hole so the hose may pass through just under the clutch master. Also the hole in the Backbone needs to be enlarged if you choose to fist the hose through the backbone. Many including myself have opted to run the SS hose adjacent to the brake lines on the outside of the backbone to save time and frustration. We figured we would not be so concerned with with clutch operation if we took a hit to the bottom of the car severe enough to damage the hose because we would lose our brakes hydraulics and be busy trying to stop the car.

[KSD]

I've installed a steel braided clutch hose on my 94 Esprit S4. It was pretty straight forward. Yes, you do have to enlargin the hole in the body just below the clutch master cylinder. You can easily do that with a rotary tool from below. You may have to adjust the clutch afterwards as well. Refer to a service manual for adjustment specs if you have one if not I can check mine and post them if you like.


Good luck.

[lotusman]

You may not need to change the hose. I followed the advice of Wally and Garth at Star Motors to cut out the other sections of the under body pan and fit in some shop cloth. Basically, the engine is in a box and air flow is restricted.

After doing so, I did not change the hose and have not had, Red Hose Syndrome, even here in Louisiana.

[cnh1990]

The body pan you refer to, is it the pan directly below the engine? How much of it did you cut open. It is there for a reason. You may get some body lift at higher speeds depending on how much and where you cut the holes. Although if you don't do too much high speed driving and follow hwy speed limits it probably won't make a difference. For the same reason it is not advised to to remove the trunk liner unless air treatment is used in this area similar to what the competition cars use.
Calvin

[tribeco]

I replaced my red line with a steel-braid line a couple of months ago. I enlarged the hole in the chassis' forward bulkhead with a rat-tail file. I endured a face full of disintegrating foam that lines the backbone chassis in order to run the line along the center tunnel only to find that the steel-braid line was about a half meter too short!

I was able to run the line from the master cylinder down through the hole in the boot, OVER the forward bulkhead on the left side instead of the right (left hand driver side car for all you Brits) and ran the line down the left side of the backbone instead of the right. A perfect fit. My concern was that the line is now on the same side as the exhaust manifold (type 907 engine) but I have not experienced any problems so far...

[cnh1990]

I used a what is called a Uni-bit it is a step bit that makes a progressivly larger hole.
Calvin