Master Cylinders

June 2014

Every bit from the engine bay that’s been taken off and refurbished/renewed is sitting in my study (wife is really happy about that – but it’s warmer than the garage) waiting to be put back on, but everytime I consider putting it back I kook at the engine bay and see something else that needs to be cleaned or replaced otherwise it makes the new stuff look ridiculous. So, the carbs, heater box manifold, rocker cover, etc have all been renewed or rebuilt and looking pleasingly good and now I’ve taken the pedal box out and the clutch and brake master cylinder because, what with the combination of spilled brake fluid from the master cylinders and water leakage over the years from the heater box, there is a significant amount of manky surface rust in the area and I can’t in conscience put anything back until the area is cleaned up, scraped back, primed and painted. 

Of course, when you start taking more stuff off, it can’t go back after refurbishment because it’ll make everything else look tatty. Guess I have no choice now but to start pulling all the bits and bobs out of the engine bay in order to eventually remove the engine and transmission enabling a full engine bay stripping, priming and repainting.

Every nut, bolt, washer, spring, screw or other component is carefully labelled and bagged in a ziplock bag. My policy is to renew all the little things like screws, washers etc, but I still want to bag the originals up so that I know what goes with what. I’m also almost paranoid about the amount of digital pictures I take in order to document every bit on the car so that I can refer back when I query where this or that piece goes.

June 1, 2014

Time to pull the brake and clutch master cylinder out. Jeez, it’s rusty! Pulled the pedal housing off and saw the mess the pedal hinges that push the hydraulic cylinders in. Plenty of WD40 sprayed liberally over every movable joint a, nut, bolt and washer. Next day I attempt to remove the hinge bolt holding the pedals to the piston actuators. Stuck.Rusted.Welded. Fortunately Riley had refurbished the seats and greased up the tracks but we hadn’t reinstalled them giving us better access to under the dash and more crucially, the pedal area. Riley got under the dash (he’s younger, smaller and more agile than me!) and removed the pedal springs and then it should’ve been simply a matter of removing the nut holding the hinge bolt on in the pedal box and then sliding the pedals off, removing the master cylinders and then a standard disassemble. The hinge bolt was not budging from the pedals. 

There is a separation sleeve on the hinge bolt between the pedals that had rusted into position and if there was room between the wing and the pedal box, one could get a persuader tool and whack it into submission, but there is a gap of about 3 inches that isn’t quite enough to get any force applied to the hinge bolt to dislodge it. Unfortunately there is a bend in the clutch pedal that makes it impossible to pull the pedal box out from the hole in the firewall with the pedals still attached to the hinge bolt. The bolt must be removed for the pedals to be removed for the master cylinders to be removed.

We spent about an hour using WD40, brute force, impassioned pleading, false promises and bargaining to try and remove it, all to no avail. Left it overnight to permeate.

Next day Riley and I took a more considered approach to the problem and upon reflected deliberation used brute force to squeeze the pedals together and just rip it out from its housing with the thought in the back of our minds that we can always replace anything we might break. 

As it turns out, it was the only way to do it. Ended up having to break the copper pipe that connects from the clutch to the clutch master cylinder, but that was a sacrifice that had to be made as it was the only way to help remove  the master cylinders. It was always going to be easier to replace it with a new one for about $15. Quite happy to spend that money rather than spend more frustrating time on trying to remove it.

June 2, 2014

More time just spent wire brushing every part on the pedal box, master cylinders and the housing. Takes a few hours to do and then to prime every component where necessary. Also, the actual Master Cylinder canisters have been wire brushed back and then polished with Autosol/ Edelchromglanz metal polish. After a day to cure, the primed components are then given the first of three coats of paint with a rub down in between every coat with 600 grit wet and dry paper before finishing with a couple of coats of acrylic clearcoat.

In the meantime, we’ve made an order once again with MGOCSpares on the UK for a range of stuff and not just for the cylinder box.

June 6, 2014,

Picked up the parcel of spares from DHL at the airport.Got it home and Riley and I excitedly tore into looking at the parts we’d bought. We’d bought a couple of new tin screw caps for the cylinders instead of the plastic ones that are currently on them Put them on. Very nice!

In the meantime, wirebrushed and cleaned up the rust on the surface of the backwall areas where the heater box and pedal box was and because I’m not quite ready to pull everything off, I taped up a few bits and bobs surrounding the area and quickly primed the wirebrushed and sanded places to prevent any further rusting giving that as it’s getting into winter over here, moisture is hanging around in the air.

Seats

10^th May 2014

Seats. The seats were in reasonable condition, but the passenger seat diaphragm (the big stretched rubber mat thing holding the foam and guts in) was knackered and had collapsed the foam out of the seat frame. Bought two new ones (may as well do both) for around £25. Pulled the seats out, pulled the old diaphragm away, removed and cleaned the covering, wirebrushed, primed and painted the frame, de-rusted the retaining clips, cleaned, painted and greased the rails, renewed the bolts to the body pan and seats are sweet. Took a few hours for everything and got two refurbished seats for just a little more than about $60.