How do you get to brake/clutch reservoir? Brake bleed steps

**Lotus4atom** · September 2, 2013, 06:27 PM

I just bought a new Arial Atom 3 from TMI. I have to call Mark as I did not get a owners manual with my new purchase.

I plan to track day the car and I always bleed brakes before track days.

I can't see how to get to brake reservoir. I can't believe I would have to take the dash off and mirrors and fire bottle Handle just to get to the reservoir cap do I?

**John Scherrer** · September 3, 2013, 12:25 AM

Yes - you do - It's only a 5 minute job ..

**John Scherrer** · September 3, 2013, 12:30 AM

The UK Atom Cup race cars are modified for easier access !

**Lotus4atom** · September 3, 2013, 03:02 AM

Originally Posted by John Scherrer

The UK Atom Cup race cars are modified for easier access !

Thank you, this is a much better location and I wish my reservoir was here and not under dash.

**Lotus4atom** · September 3, 2013, 05:18 PM

Wow I am really shocked you have to take dash top off to get to brake reservoir on by brand new Atom 3.5

I just took apart and disappointed as the fire bottle Handel goes thought dash also on top. So once mirrors, and three bolts with nuts hard to put back underneath are off I have to twist top around with fire bottle T Handel still on as the T Handel does not come off.

The Atom is as open as you can get car to get at most things, but how could this have been missed to make so hard to get to brake reservoir caps? Even worse as I would expect more Atoms do lots of track days and need to bleed brakes often to check before track days.

I came from a track Lotus Elise that was a pain to work on with all the panels on bottom of car. But the Lotus was a 5 second job to get to brake reservoir caps.

**bolus** · September 3, 2013, 05:26 PM

Check out the Atom 2 dash on the Brammo made cars (on the left). It had a nice little section cut out of it to reach the reservoirs

**Positron** · September 3, 2013, 06:39 PM

This car is usually well over braked. I would only bleed before a weekend event in my normal pre event service. Even my Radical I only bleed before an event. I had a fire bottle in the center so the reservoirs where in front of the driver. Oh I guess another good reason to relocated the mirrors off the deck..

In that context, taking the dash cover off was not a big deal. I only unscrewed and pivoted about the fire pull cable just enough to clear reservoirs. Heck taking the roll bar off to get the tea tray/rear deck off was more of a chore to pull the plugs, which I changed every event.

**silver** · September 3, 2013, 08:18 PM

Originally Posted by Positron

This car is usually well over braked. I would only bleed before a weekend event in my normal pre event service. Even my Radical I only bleed before an event. I had a fire bottle in the center so the reservoirs where in front of the driver. Oh I guess another good reason to relocated the mirrors off the deck..

In that context, taking the dash cover off was not a big deal. I only unscrewed and pivoted about the fire pull cable just enough to clear reservoirs. Heck taking the roll bar off to get the tea tray/rear deck off was more of a chore to pull the plugs, which I changed every event.

to add to the ease of use of the atom, I installed riv-nuts in every possible location to remove almost entirely the need for a socket / wrench to hold down the nut...came in really handy after a while.

45 Piece Threaded Insert Riveter Kit

I bought extra riv-nuts from fastenal

**Lotus4atom** · September 9, 2013, 06:51 PM

Thank you I will do the rivet screws. I still might look into relocate the reservoirs to the center over the winter like some pictures I see the older Atoms had in past. Picture below I found on web.
Tilton Remote Reservoir - 3 Chamber, Push On

**CaliMR** · August 18, 2016, 12:33 AM

Rather than start a new thread, I figured I'd ask this here so all the info is in the same place.

There are three bottles under the dash on my 3S, the outer ones are both about mid, the center one is low. Does anyone know which one is for what? I'm guessing front brake, rear brake, clutch but I don't know in what order. Also it's just Dot4 in all the bottles, right?

I've done lots of brake bleeds, but my other cars all had one combined bottle.

Oh, also does anyone know what the brand and model is on the bottles? I like to use a pressure bleeder from the top, so I need to get a spare of each size cap to attach a fitting.