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Re: Brake Master Cylinders, the good, the bad, and the ugly

To: spitfire-enthusiast@egroups.com, "spit" <spitfires@autox.team.net>
Subject: Re: Brake Master Cylinders, the good, the bad, and the ugly
From: Nolan Penney <npenney@pop.erols.com>
Date: 2 Nov 1999 03:55:26 -0800
Yes, my vents are clear, I use Castrol LMA brake fluid, and yep, it's leaking 
out the rear of the master cylinders.  In some cases squirting.

I wasn't very clear in my quick post though.  The first master cylinder was the 
1980 original, I rebuilt it and it dribbled.  I replaced it with the parts car 
1974 master cylinder, that worked, dribbled slightly, and was very inconsistent 
with pedal feel (internal leaks).  Rebuild failed to improve it.  Then lastly I 
snagged a freshly machined brass sleeved master cylinder for a song at a show 
thinking I'd achieved nirvana at last.  Builtt it, and this one flat sprays 
fluid out the back of the cylinder, looking like maybe it's actually squirting 
from under the brass insert.

While picking up some other parts though, I just discovered that Pep Boys has 
life time warrantied rebuilt master cylinders for my 1980 Spitfire for $160.  
Now that's still about $120 more then I like to pay, but it's a whole lot less 
then places like Vicky brit and such, and comes with a lifetime warranty.  

I think I'm going to try one more rebuild of the brass sleeved wonder, and then 
either buy one from Pep boys, or switch completely to a tilton system.  

Seems to me that there was some discussion a while back about the Girling 
rebuild kits from Napa being slightly oversized as they were to fit a TR-6 as 
well, but I don't remember for sure.



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