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 Posted: Feb 27, 2012 08:21PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mur

That is an excellent update.

I'll second the excellent update... I have now entered the information into my database and hope like hell I can remember how to retrive it when I need it.
Bonus: Summit Racing seems to stock the part. And, they're not too far down the road from me....

 Posted: Feb 27, 2012 07:14PM
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Terry, make sure you have the right size socket before you get into it. As I said below, it's a funky size and only slightly larger than the mini switches are. I got all set up in the street to deal with it, then had to pack up and run to the hardware store for a metric socket as soon as I realized.

 

Pete

 

Refitting is the reverse sequence to removal. 

 Posted: Feb 27, 2012 07:42AM
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I ordered one last night.

Terry

 Posted: Feb 26, 2012 08:30AM
mur
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That is an excellent update.

 Posted: Feb 25, 2012 03:03PM
 Edited:  Feb 25, 2012 03:13PM
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Just an update on my hydraulic brake switch in case anyone ever does a search on brake switches. My new one died this week after only 8 weeks! That is the last one from a mini supplier that I will put in. I just put in an ACCEL 181101 and it is much more sensitive than the last one. It's a replacement for a Harley, and looking at the Harley forums, it seems to be what most people use when the ones on their bikes die. It's a funny size... 25mm socket, but other than that it's a direct replacement, blade terminals and all. I looked around, and the auto parts places can all order a 1/8NPT switch, but no one seems to keep them in stock.

 

Pete

 

Refitting is the reverse sequence to removal. 

 Posted: Jan 9, 2012 04:19PM
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Looks like Harleys use a 1/8-27 npt switch pretty much identical to the mini switch.

 

Pete

 

Refitting is the reverse sequence to removal. 

 Posted: Jan 9, 2012 04:09PM
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Surely NAPA or somebody sells a 1/8 NPT threaded brake light switch in the US of A? Years back most all cars ran a hydraulic switch.

Just thinkin' out loud... it don't have to be a Mini switch.

Kevin G

1360 power- Morris 1300 auto block, S crank & rods, Russell Engineering RE282 sprint cam, over 125HP at crank, 86.6HP at the wheels @7000+.

 Posted: Jan 9, 2012 01:11PM
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Didn't someone post up a hydraulic switch used on motorcycles? If my feeble memory is correct, it was supposed to be more robust than the ones sold by the Brit car suppliers & was plug 'n play.... I thought that I had written it down..... somewhere.....

What were we talking about again?????

 Posted: Jan 9, 2012 11:19AM
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GB

Hydraulic switches don't like silicone brake fluid, and struggle to work properly.  Don't know why, just observed it on several cars.

 Posted: Jan 9, 2012 09:08AM
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I will add my experience. I banged the switch when removing the engine on my wife's Traveller and thought I should replace it just in case. The new one barely worked from the beginning and required strong foot pressure on the pedal. I put the old one back in and it has been working for another year and it is probably 40 years old.

 Posted: Jan 9, 2012 08:13AM
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Unfortunately, Kevin seems to be correct about the current hydraulic brake switches. (The problem is with more than the switches, too.) In one of my cars, the first one lasted 30 years. The second one made it three years, but it took a strong leg to get it to work near the end. I don't get as many early cars to work on anymore (except my own), but when I do, a bad brake light switch is not an unusual item for me to be replacing.

 Posted: Jan 9, 2012 03:29AM
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What happens with the new hydraulic switches is the diaphragm seems to go hard from the brake fluid, then you have to push harder and harder before the brake lights come on.
They are a poor copy of the original.

Kevin G

1360 power- Morris 1300 auto block, S crank & rods, Russell Engineering RE282 sprint cam, over 125HP at crank, 86.6HP at the wheels @7000+.

 Posted: Jan 9, 2012 03:18AM
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Thanks for putting up that photo, Kevin. The conversion looks quick enough and like time well spent if the new switches burn out within a year or so. I'll put a mechanical switch on my list for sometime in the near future and have it ready if the new hydraulic one craps out. I think they're only about 8 bucks or so.

 

Pete

 

Refitting is the reverse sequence to removal. 

 Posted: Jan 8, 2012 04:04PM
 Edited:  Jan 8, 2012 04:05PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PTC1000
Quote:
Originally Posted by DRMINI
Quote:
Originally Posted by PTC1000

Done it. Thanks guys. Nice to have brake lights again.

Keep an eye on it- I got 3 months out of one new one, and then 3 weeks out of another. They ain't made by Lockheed any more...
After this exercise I fitted a late model mechanical switch onto the pedal box, and all is good.

Thanks, DRMINI. I asked you about the retrofit on one of my threads the other day, but I don't think you responded. I can't imagine that the pedal box configuration changed all that much. So what did you have to do to retrofit? Changing the hydraulic switch wasn't much trouble, but bleeding the brakes is kind of a hassle.

Here's a late 80s Oz Mini (maybe Moke?) pedal box with the switch bracket inside.
For mine I just made an L bracket from steel angle and screwed it to the pedal box. Drilling a hole in the box in situ was a bit cramped, I used a cordless drill and a shortened 5/16" drill bit.

Kevin G

1360 power- Morris 1300 auto block, S crank & rods, Russell Engineering RE282 sprint cam, over 125HP at crank, 86.6HP at the wheels @7000+.

 Posted: Jan 8, 2012 03:35PM
mur
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You need a small bracket to mount the switch.  This will be like every mechanical brake lamp switch.  Look through a few in a wrecking yard, or look at the one in one of your other cars, or your friend's cars, you will get the idea.

 

 Posted: Jan 8, 2012 02:42PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DRMINI
Quote:
Originally Posted by PTC1000

Done it. Thanks guys. Nice to have brake lights again.

Keep an eye on it- I got 3 months out of one new one, and then 3 weeks out of another. They ain't made by Lockheed any more...
After this exercise I fitted a late model mechanical switch onto the pedal box, and all is good.

Thanks, DRMINI. I asked you about the retrofit on one of my threads the other day, but I don't think you responded. I can't imagine that the pedal box configuration changed all that much. So what did you have to do to retrofit? Changing the hydraulic switch wasn't much trouble, but bleeding the brakes is kind of a hassle.

 

Pete

 

Refitting is the reverse sequence to removal. 

 Posted: Jan 8, 2012 02:10PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PTC1000

Done it. Thanks guys. Nice to have brake lights again.

Keep an eye on it- I got 3 months out of one new one, and then 3 weeks out of another. They ain't made by Lockheed any more...
After this exercise I fitted a late model mechanical switch onto the pedal box, and all is good.

Kevin G

1360 power- Morris 1300 auto block, S crank & rods, Russell Engineering RE282 sprint cam, over 125HP at crank, 86.6HP at the wheels @7000+.

 Posted: Jan 8, 2012 12:59PM
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Done it. Thanks guys. Nice to have brake lights again.

 

Pete

 

Refitting is the reverse sequence to removal. 

 Posted: Jan 8, 2012 11:56AM
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Nothing is necessary between the brake light switch and the banjo bolt.

 Posted: Jan 8, 2012 08:52AM
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//www.minimania.com/web/CatPage/9-13/Chapter/9/Page/13/Mini_Cooper_Catalog.cfm

Looking at the diagram the switch screws into another fitting first, that fitting has a washer uinder it.

"How can anything bigger be mini?"

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