Installing New Master Cylinder, any tips?

[J.HK]

I'm in the process of some brake work.

Yesterday I managed to detach a 4 of my brake lines without damaging any fittings. I used a snap-on 11mm flare nut wrench and soaked the fittings with PB Blaster. The Spring clips were actually harder to remove than the actual lines!!

I'm also installing a new master cylinder because the current one is leaking a small amount of brake fluid into the pedal area. My pedal bushings have already been replaced with the bronze ones luckily. Any tips in installing the new master cylinder??? It seems to be pretty straightforward...

I will then bleed (and bleed, and bleed) the entire system.

Was thinking about possibly installing new front and rear brakes as well. They have around 3 MM of pad remaining. Seems like it might be a little easier without much fluid in the system. Which pads do people like for regular agressive street use? I don't drive on a track, but I do turn local empty roads into my own autobahn....

Anything else I should do while it's all apart?

Thanks,
J

[Formerly Steve Wilkinson]

Get one of the pressure bleeders that Pelican sells. It makes brake bleeding a cinch, you don't have to pump the pedal, you can bleed the system as many times as you wish just as fast as you can make it from brake to brake...as long as you remember to plug or cap off the vent line from the reservoir.

You don't say what year car you're working on, so I can't give you any advice beyond that. I assume you're talking about an early car, if the brake fluid is getting onto the pedal cluster.

Stephan

[75eleven]

If you are talking about a pre-boosted brake master cylinder, After spending a half of a day trying to get the two feed lines from the reservoir to snap into the m/c, I found it to be a whole lot easier to disconnect the lines at the reservoir and pull them down about 6 inches so you can get a grip on the lines to push them into the bushings on top of the m/c. After connected push the lines back up and reconnect to the reservoir.

[J.HK]

75eleven,

Yeah i just experienced that same issue. I managed to get one of the feed lines in pretty easily but the second was a lot harder and I'm not 100% sure it is seated all the way. If not, i will try the way you suggested. It is about 2/3 of the way in....

Did you have to adjust the rod that comes off of the brake pedal at all? I left mine where it was.

J

[Clark Griswald]

Sounds like you have the boosted brakes.

Some people like to remove the booster to get access. I think it's easier to remove portions of the ventilation system to get in there. You can pull off the front of the ventilation with just a few screws while leaving the cables connected, and access is much easier.

[75eleven]

Hi- No. I left the brake rod where it was. The main thing is to be shure you have a little "free play" before the pedal starts pushing the piston. This can best be seen by removing the rubber boot on the m/c and moving the pedal to make shure you dont have any pressure on the piston. You should have a little pedal movement before the piston starts to move.

[marcesq]

Remember not to bottom out the pedal when bleeding the system if you use the old pumping method so as to avoid damaging your brand new m/c seals!!