Melted Brake Fluid Reservoir.

Basic tech questions such as future setups, different turbo kits, car diagnosis, etc
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Caveit77777
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Melted Brake Fluid Reservoir.

Post by Caveit77777 »

Like the title says, my turbo melted my brake reservoir and caused a small fire a while back. I replaced all the melted vac lines and fluid reservoir as well as installed a turbo blanket and have a heat shield on the way. Despite the heat prevention efforts, the turbo is still really close to the brake reservoir. I put redline 600 in it so I'm not worried about it boiling but I am still worried about it melting again. I've been letting it idle and doing short trips and then I pop the hood and measure the temp with a laser thermometer. I was just wondering how hot I can actually let the plastic get before it melts. I'm trying to establish a safe temperature range in degrees Fahrenheit but I don't know how hot these things can get. So yeah, anybody know of a rough range or at least a max temperature that I should avoid exceeding at all costs?
1996 Zenki: Arias 8.8:1 Forged Pistons, AMS Sportsman Series Rods, Tial 38mm, 370cc, Fel-pro Gaskets, New Stock Crank, Nismo Thermo, Nismo Mounts, Dual Canister Exhaust, Walbro 255, T3/T4 Turbo, Mishimoto Rad, Isis Fans, HKS SSQV, SPL Tension Rods, GAB Revo Sport II Coilovers, Enthalpy Tuned... more to come
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Re: Melted Brake Fluid Reservoir.

Post by adamky »

I don't think you're going to find a concrete answer to that. Can you post some pics of the setup? I'm curious just how close it is.
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jungspike
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Re: Melted Brake Fluid Reservoir.

Post by jungspike »

We have the same problem. Been running a stainless steel manifold for a year. We just swapped to a cast iron manifold and after only a couple minutes of driving--we melted the reservoir. The car has Z32 brakes, so there is only about 1 inch between brake lines and turbo hot side. I am guessing the melting occurred after shutdown and the cast iron cooked it like an oven? Our plan is to make a heat shield out of aluminum, wrap the manifold. We also want to add some Mad Max/Rat Rod looking louvers on the hood. Anyone know where to find some? I was looking in RV stuff, but could find any that I liked.

Thoughts?
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adamky
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Re: Melted Brake Fluid Reservoir.

Post by adamky »

I'd be looking for a different manifold before anything else. I've got decent clearance between my BMC and turbo/DP and I still installed a heat shield for the BMC, a turbo blanket, wrapped the downpipe, and used some thermal wrap on the reservoir itself. Even with all of this, my BMC still gets pretty damn hot, mostly because the heat shield doesn't protect the bottom of it where my WG and tubing are located. I'm going to pick up either a larger shield or a 2nd one of the same size to protect the bottom.

This is the heat shield that I am using: https://www.heatshieldproducts.com/hd-inferno-shield. I purchased it from Verocious Motorsports: http://www.verociousmotorsports.com/Sho ... ield-trade. I'm using the 6x14 stainless steel version which is good for up to 1800*. What's great about is that it's a fantastic heat barrier that you can bent/cut/shape for your need. You could literally wrap it around the BMC if you wanted to

Also, I hope both of you guys have fire extinguishers in your cars. I keep a few in mine... just in case
Wiseco/Eagle, JWT S1 cams, BC valve springs, PT5857, ID1700 injectors, SR20DET ECU w/ Nismotronic, COP conversion with LS ignition coils, etc, etc...
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jungspike
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Re: Melted Brake Fluid Reservoir.

Post by jungspike »

Ahhhh, fire extinguisher? Yes, that is a good idea.

Are you saying to get another manifold to avoid the cast iron, or to make more space between brakes and turbo?

What is the minimum distance you recommend from the turbo to brake lines (assuming the brake lines and master cylinder are on the other side of the thermal barrier material?
adamky
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Re: Melted Brake Fluid Reservoir.

Post by adamky »

To get more room between the turbo and BMC. I can't tell you an exact distance other than "as far away as possible"!

Here are some options:
1. Turbo blanket, wrap the downpipe, and try and fit a heat shield if you can. That's what I ended up doing. You can also wrap the reservoir in heat reflecting tape/wrap
2. There are several different sizes of brake booster for 240s. Depending on what booster you currently have, you may be able to find a smaller one that will move the BMC back a little: viewtopic.php?t=50396
3. There used to be two versions of the cast manifold, and one of them puts the turbo a lot further forward than the other: http://forums.nicoclub.com/master-cylin ... 42799.html. Probably going to be a major PITA to switch manifolds, but it might be an option.
4. S14 RHD BMC. The lines are on the top and right sides, which wont move the BMC, but will get the brake lines away from the heat. Of course, you'll have to re-bend your brake lines to get them to the other side.
5. And of course, there's the Chase Bays Booster eliminator setup, but... $$$$




And as far as fire extinguishers, I don't mess around: One 3 lb in the cabin and a 5 lb and another 3 lb in the trunk ;)
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Wiseco/Eagle, JWT S1 cams, BC valve springs, PT5857, ID1700 injectors, SR20DET ECU w/ Nismotronic, COP conversion with LS ignition coils, etc, etc...
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Re: Melted Brake Fluid Reservoir.

Post by street_240sx »

Holy crap that turbo is close!!!! I was having issues and my turbo was bottom mount. I had to go manual brakes, wilwood master and brembo fronts z32 rears. My buddy on his 1jz car is going manual brakes. He and i were having issues that the z32 res would leak where it met the master

You could try an on center turbine housing. Pathfinder or xterra masters are like z32 but the lines are like jdm cars. Look for a smaller booster if you dont want to go manual brakes
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Caveit77777
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Re: Melted Brake Fluid Reservoir.

Post by Caveit77777 »

The picture posted above is exactly where my turbo sits as well. It seems like the only real solution is to redo my manifold and dp setup or brake booster delete. I have a heat shield and turbo blanket installed but I'm not too confident that those two things alone can prevent a 1500F pipe from melting the plastic which I'm guessing is around 300F? I just spent a ton on a custom downpipe like an idiot too :(
1996 Zenki: Arias 8.8:1 Forged Pistons, AMS Sportsman Series Rods, Tial 38mm, 370cc, Fel-pro Gaskets, New Stock Crank, Nismo Thermo, Nismo Mounts, Dual Canister Exhaust, Walbro 255, T3/T4 Turbo, Mishimoto Rad, Isis Fans, HKS SSQV, SPL Tension Rods, GAB Revo Sport II Coilovers, Enthalpy Tuned... more to come
modulation
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Re: Melted Brake Fluid Reservoir.

Post by modulation »

What temp range is good for BMC reservoir and metal body?
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Caveit77777
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Re: Melted Brake Fluid Reservoir.

Post by Caveit77777 »

modulation wrote:What temp range is good for BMC reservoir and metal body?
Not sure but I do know from personal experience that when the paint on your hood starts boiling that it's a good time to pull over and grab a fire extinguisher. :angry-extinguishflame:
1996 Zenki: Arias 8.8:1 Forged Pistons, AMS Sportsman Series Rods, Tial 38mm, 370cc, Fel-pro Gaskets, New Stock Crank, Nismo Thermo, Nismo Mounts, Dual Canister Exhaust, Walbro 255, T3/T4 Turbo, Mishimoto Rad, Isis Fans, HKS SSQV, SPL Tension Rods, GAB Revo Sport II Coilovers, Enthalpy Tuned... more to come
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i_slide
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Re: Melted Brake Fluid Reservoir.

Post by i_slide »

Back in the day when I was in school and working a part time at PepBoys (Poor), I melted quite a few resiviours and even one booster. I resolved the problem with a turbo blanket, put spacers on the rear of the hood, wrapped my downpipe and then wrapped my master and resiviour switch aluminum foil. All jokes aside, I never had another problem with melting/boiling anything.

Since many years then I will never run a manifold with awful fitment. I do have a DOC Race manifold and the placement wasn't the best so to resolve that I changed my booster to the slimmest available for our cars. (There is a thread on it.)

- With the smaller booster I didn't have to wrap anything but my downpipe.

--- Ooo and yea, as stated above: Fire Extinguisher, 3lbs at least. I learned the hard way. I saved the car but not the clothes I was wearing lmao.
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CarbonFiberS14
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Re: Melted Brake Fluid Reservoir.

Post by CarbonFiberS14 »

Have you tried running a pathfinder master cylinder? Moves the cylinder closer to the driver side of the car but I'm not sure about the reservoir
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Re: Melted Brake Fluid Reservoir.

Post by cmj »

I wrapped the reservoir with DEI 2" reflective tape and use a turbo blanket. Solved all issues.
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Caveit77777
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Re: Melted Brake Fluid Reservoir.

Post by Caveit77777 »

So far I wrapped the upper end of the downpipe, installed a turbo blanket (Kind of, its way too small) and bought that stuff that adamky recommended. It's like some kind of stainless steel cardboard basically and it's insane how well it works. Rather than wrapping the master cylinder I made it into a turbo blanket type deal but I put it over the top of the downpipe without actually touching the down pipe. Looks a little **** but its been really functional so far. I still want to get a different manifold but if this is working so far in South Carolina summer heat, then im confident it should work year round.
1996 Zenki: Arias 8.8:1 Forged Pistons, AMS Sportsman Series Rods, Tial 38mm, 370cc, Fel-pro Gaskets, New Stock Crank, Nismo Thermo, Nismo Mounts, Dual Canister Exhaust, Walbro 255, T3/T4 Turbo, Mishimoto Rad, Isis Fans, HKS SSQV, SPL Tension Rods, GAB Revo Sport II Coilovers, Enthalpy Tuned... more to come
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