Hydraulic Brake Set Up

[sniffles]

I am posting this because mcp has the worst instructions for their brakes. what you need to do is buy some dot5 brake fluid and a brake bleeder kit. this makes things a lot easier. There are someting called ferrules inside of the compression nuts. these clamp to the brake lines. but first what you need to do is cut the lines to proper size and put them through the compression nuts both on the caliper and the master cylinder. tighten the compression nuts on both the caliper and the master cylinder as far as you can and take them off to see if the ferrules clamped to the brake lines. if they didnt, try again. now put the dot 5 brake fluid into the brake bleeder kit's bottle and put the attachment it comes with on the brake bleeder kit's bottle. now what you do is open up the cap on the master cylinder. you pour in the fluid with the brake bleeder. you open up the bleed screws on the caliper and have a bottle ready to catch th fluid so you can use it again. once only fluid is running through the lines and not air shut the bleed screws. hopefully this helped some of you.

[elvergon]

dot5??
I have a kawasaki caliper and master cylinder. It says use only dot 3. Just my .02

[sniffles]

that is for different style brakes not the mcp brakes.im guessing it came off an atv. these brakes were designed for kart racing. im sure the one you have is pretty good cause if came off an atv it has to have pretty decent stopping power.

[RUBICON]

For anyone interested....motorcycle hydraulic brake levers are great....look for them on e-bay or a cycle grave yard...For the line attachment you can use get a 10mm brake banjo with -3an fitting and adapt from there to what ever hose suits you. I have -3 braided stainless now...but my first was using the bike hose ( 3' ) and made a aluminum block with the banjo on one side and 2ea 1/8npt tapped holes on the other for nylon brake line fittings....as for DOT specs on fluid...not an expert...but...the lower numbers are for older alcohol based fluids ( they were hygroscopic...absorbed water )..the newer are synthetic...I think the DOT 5 is silicone....the attributes that are of value is that the newer ones boil at a higher temperature in racing applications...and the other is that seals are designed for the fluid....if a different fluid is used I am sure it will work fine if the seals will last ....

[sniffles]

hey rubicon, what type of brakes do you have now?

[bm1]

DOT 5 is used for racing applications(mostly). I use it in my Enduro Kart, and Sprint Car and it works great. The thing about brake fluids is that they ALL contain alcohol. DOT 5 doesn't have as much, but it still has some, which means, ALWAYS....keep the container sealed up tight. When filling the master cylinder, be sure to put the cap back on the bottle as well as the mastercylinder. Alcohol is a water magnet. Any moisture in the brake system is trouble. Keep the containers sealed and you should have no problems.

[RUBICON]

I have a vented 7" disk mounted on a custom hub tig welded to the right half of my differential housing and a MCP dual piston Lite caliper...braided stainless lines and a Yamaha front brake master cylinder on the handlebar....I have the brake light switch in the master cylinder wired to a LED brake light...

[1100kaw]

I am planing to run Driving lites on my stool. I want to run a tail lite as well, would like to have brake lite signal as well. Any ideas on way to get brake lite to work when applying brakes. I'm running hydrolic brakes.
Think a switch from an older motorcycle in line hydrolic switch will work?
I dont know if the Kart system makes enough pressure to active???
DD

[sweav]

I had a problem with my mcp set up, I had too thin of a brake rotor and couldn't get everything adjusted properly. The pistons in the caliper would retract all the way and it took about 1/2 the stroke of the master to get the pistons out far enough to engage on the pads.

[sweav]

Hey sniffles, any pics of your bsr yet?

[sniffles]

No I don't. I'll take some this weekend. It has taken me extra long because I changed frame designs in the middle of a build. Yours looks great!

[sweav]

Thanks, post some pics as soon as you can

[BAR-TAB]

Hey KAW1100 Get a brake and signal setup off one of those scooters, {cheapest way out} the assembly should have turn signal, brake lights, headlights, and horn, but you will have to put a battery on it tho if you have room

[RUBICON]

SWEAV...calipers have adjusting screws behind the pistons to adjuct the pad close to the disk...did you do that?...also the caliper should not have a spring that retracts the pad....

[sweav]

I adjusted the pads but for some reason the piston in the calipers (both sodes) retracts back in all the way and then has to travel all the way back out to the pad. I'm going to try and get ahold of someone to ask them about it.

[RUBICON]

I have no more experence on this...i do know that you can buy several different thicknesses of rotor....good luck

[sweav]

I am aither going to a thicker rotor or have hales of the caliper shaved down, first I want to check with someone before I do anything