Okay - I am close to pulling my hair out on this one. I have a 74 spitfire,
and about a month ago I rebuilt the brake master cylinder. Immediately after
completing I knew something was wrong because I was getting brake fluid all
over the firewall. It appeared that the majority of the fluid seemed to be
coming from the junction between the reservoir and the master cylinder itself.
I received some sage advice from this list (thank you thank you) that the seal
that is included in the rebuild kit is flat and often doesn't provide a great
seal. It was recommended that I use a standard o-ring from a hardware store
and presto this "cured" the leakage of fluid from that site. However, now that
I have stopped that problem (and the resultant fluid from that problem is no
longer "flooding" the firewall) I have realized that I am actually losing
fluid from the cylinder itself. I am continuing to get fluid loss (observed
through a loss of fluid and fluid on the firewall).
I am assuming that if I am getting fluid loss from the cylinder itself that
there could be a couple of culprits.
1) I screwed up in how I replaced/installed the replacement seals
2) the "sleeve" of my master cylinder is so scored that it really can't be
rebuilt
3) I missed some secret of assuring a proper seal when rebuilding.
I am at the point that I am considering just purchasing a "replacement" master
cylinder. However, prior to making tha investment I thought that I would ask
the list one last time about how I should proceed.
On a positive note I am becoming quite an expert at removing and replacing the
cylinder as well as bleeding the brake lines.
Sorry that I keep coming back to the list with issues about the same thing,
but I really have tried to resolve independently before emailing.
Many Thanks,
Jim Cullen
1974 Spitfire
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