My AMC Eagle’s primer-gray hood has unceremoniously become a staging area for crap I need to shove into the attic. My access ladder is right above the Eagle’s engine bay, which means I usually sit on the top edge of the windshield as I pull the folding ladder down. Rusted fittings on its clutch master cylinder had me stuck as of my last update, but I lucked out. I also found a local shop that could accommodate my request for a custom-made brake line. Same day, even.


In a previous post, I mentioned that I had removed my old clutch master cylinder and tracked down a rebuild kit, but was stuck on removing a stuck flare nut for the flex hose. Several applications of penetrating lubricant—which I’ve taken to calling PeePee Blaster because my friends and I are adults with mature senses of humor—a bit of cleaning, and a new pair of Vise-Grips that my wife got me for Secular End-of-Year Gift Giving Day got me past that challenge.

The Vise-Grip’s effectiveness surprised me. I had, my entire life, been skeptical of how well a pair of locking pliers would work in any given situation. My success rate with them was uninspiring. Often, it would just result in me shaving another couple thousands of material off the head of a bolt that became increasingly more round. The fault, I now believe, was in the Vise-Grips that I was using. My prior experience had been limited to the set my dad had in his garage for decades.
It wasn’t until I had a new set of locking pliers of m own that I realized that the teeth in those jaws can dull over time. When I clamped down on the flare nut with these new Vise-Grips, it “bit in” more literally than I was accustomed to.

This is just a long way of saying that if your Vise-Grips suck, sharpen those teeth with a triangle file.

Finally cracking that flare nut loose meant I could use the clutch master that I had rebuilt, and not resort to adapting a Tilton single-circuit brake master. But I still needed a new hydraulic flex hose with flare nut fittings. I scoured parts store inventories and exhausted my Google-Fu with no success, so I crowdsourced a solution and asked friends on Facebook. One suggested buying off-the-shelf brake hose with AN fittings, and using brake line to AN adapters to get it to work in my application. I mulled spending $30 plus shipping on a braided stainless hose (absolute overkill) and a few adapters until another friend mentioned Central Hydraulics, a local shop that does everything from oil cooler line to high-pressure hose for excavators. I hopped on my bike and rode over there with the original line in hand.

The guy at the counter looked it over, gave me a price: about $40. I like to support local business whenever I can, but I pressed further. “How long will it take?”
“Oh, I can have this ready for you this afternoon.”

Sold. He even used a hand-bendable pipe for the top section, so I could make minor adjustments if necessary.
I picked up the new piece later that day, took it home, and began preparing to reassemble everything. That’s when I finally noticed that I could see light coming through in areas where I shouldn’t. The firewall had rusted through a little bit where the clutch master attaches. The clutch pedal doesn’t transmit a lot of force onto the firewall, but I don’t want to ever have to deal with this area of the car again. More work is required before I can finally reassemble these hydraulics and actually drive the car under its own power.

The next step is to clean and repair the firewall, either with JB Weld or with the conventional metal arc variety. Fortunately, despite gas in the tank that’s probably half a decade old or more, a complete lack of a tuneup or carb adjustment, and really zero fuel or ignition maintenance in forever, this all-iron 258-cubic-inch inline-6 still starts up readily and will idle smoothly once it’s warmed up a little. I’m still impressed with its tractor-like durability.
[Photos Copyright 2015 Hooniverse/Alan Cesar]