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| | | | Joined: Sep 2008 Posts: 46 Wrench Fetcher | | Wrench Fetcher Joined: Sep 2008 Posts: 46 | i have a 52 3800 new brake lines and shoes,now the cyclinders i took apart today had to drive out the old pistons ton of crap etc honed with lots of fluid and can still see the old mark from the piston although it feels smooth, my question is had any luck with cylinders not leaking even tho you can see the old mark?if money were not a problem i would buy new cylinders, but prefer not too, this is thelast step in replacing everything so i am paranoid about them leaking on the new shoes, thanks trying | | | | | Joined: Aug 2005 Posts: 1,186 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: Aug 2005 Posts: 1,186 | Welcome to the bolt. It all depends on how pitted the insides are. The kits to rebuild are cheap, or they can be sleeved for about the same price as new if I recall correctly. Remember, it's only your life your chancing. You have gone to the expense of replacing everything else, I would buy new cylinders but that's me.
Bruce | | | | | Joined: Mar 2006 Posts: 53 Wrench Fetcher | | Wrench Fetcher Joined: Mar 2006 Posts: 53 | It depends on where the pits are. If they are in the center of the cylinder you will probably be ok. If they are in the area the cup rides chances are they will seep and make a mess. With that said, you've spent a bunch of time and money already to do the job right why not treat yourself and finish it right.  Jim
Last edited by farmer51; 02/22/2009 3:23 AM.
| | | | | Joined: May 2006 Posts: 8,351 'Bolter | | 'Bolter Joined: May 2006 Posts: 8,351 | If you question it, best would be either to replace or sleeve them. Whichever way you go, do the same to both sides of a given axle for equal braking performance.
Bill Burmeister
| | | | | Joined: May 2006 Posts: 679 Shop Shark | | Shop Shark Joined: May 2006 Posts: 679 | I wanted to replace the cylinders because they are so dang cheap on my '58. I got them from the local FLAPS for a reasonable price, but I found the castings wouldn't fit properly on the plate. Likewise, the bleeder thread forms were different from my old ones, keeping me form swapping my Speed Bleeders over. All-in-all, the new cylinders were a complete mess.
I honed out the old ones and did a blind feel test. I couldn't feel anything so I moved over the innards from the new cylinder castings to the old ones, and they've worked wonderfully ever since.
With that success, I tackled the master cylinder rebuild job, honing out the cylinder per Red58's guidance. To this day, both the brake cylinder and master cylinder rebuild jobs have been extremely successful.
Give it a shot and be extremely cautious at check-out. I recommend testing it at low speed at dawn's first light.
Bill
Last edited by TxLaTx; 02/22/2009 4:03 AM.
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