master cylinder replacement

[nibot]

the old master cylinder with its brake fluid reservoir removed, in situ

Spending a few days in Pasadena, I was able to do a little work on my old car. As I had left it, the master cylinder (which provides hydraulic pressure for the brakes) was dead, but I was unable to unscrew one of the brake lines from it; the head of the connector merely rounded under the force of a flare nut wrench. This time I applied vise grips (locking pliers) which loosened the connector nicely, and I was able to unscrew it the rest of the way with a wrench. The rest of the removal was easy.


the fresh transplant (left); and the diseased organ, removed (right)

But of course nothing is easy. The threads on another of the brake lines was just damaged enough so that I couldn't screw it into the new master cylinder. I guess you can get a 'thread follower' which fixes up damaged threads. But that will have to wait a month or two until I am back in town. Slowly slowly learning the techniques to surmount the problems one invariably encounters in fixing cars.

tools used:
* 11mm flare nut wrench - disconnect brake lines
* vise-grip pliers - loosen a stuck brake line
* liquid wrench - loosen a stuck brake line
* 13mm extended socket - unbolt master cylinder from vacuum booster
* squeeze bulb - suck old brake fluid out of reservoir
parts
* new master cylinder - mail ordered from autozone ($72)
* DOT-4 brake fluid
* new 8mm nuts to fasten new master cylinder to vacuum booster (64¢)

Comments

[cassiusdio.livejournal.com]

Nice work! Fixing cars is almost always very simple in concept but often difficult in execution, thanks to rusty parts and other snags. It's great feeling when you get it all put back together.

Fuck science

[spacehead5.livejournal.com]

Cars amaze me.