I pulled the failing master cylinder out of my buddy's 51' Chevy Deluxe yesterday and now I 'm having trouble finding a replacement or rebuild kit. I prefer to replace it cause the damn thing is so rusty it welded itself together. Anyone got any clues as to where one can be purchased? Preferably in the Los Angeles area but any tips would be helpful. Thanks!
I have a 53-54 Chevy MC that's in excellent shape. I'm 95% sure it will work in your car. It has a slightly different bore, but a better one. Other than that, you can get a rebuild kit for around $15 from fillingstation.com or you could get your MC converted to a safer dual pot MC by Buffalo Ent for about $200
There's lotsa stuff here on the HAMB about converting these over. One of the slickest was where someone gutted the stock master cyl. and lengthened the pushrod so that it went all the way through the bore and out the other end to act as a plunger for a later model dual-chamber master. (Like a 72 Mustang non-power version). This put the late model m/c kinda under the driver's seat area, mounted to a fab'ed bracket off the frame rail. This method lets you still use the casting of the old m/c as a bracket/pivot point for the stock brake pedal, but gives you the added braking power and safety of the newer m/c.
I did this, a scrap piece of 10 gauge, some bolts, and a 12" piece of 5/16 rod, cost $50 including the new 1" master with a warranty, and a little time with a welder. An absolute must with disc brakes, and a safer car with drums. I stole the idea from filling station's kit they sell.
We did this in the Track Roadster several years ago when we found the price of the new replacement master cylinder was more than the new dual cylinder and booster setup from most hotrod shops. Cut the piston bore off the Chevy master cylinder/pedal assembly,, made a nice bracket for the booster/master assembly, fabbed up a longer pushrod, replumbed the lines, added a vacuum line for the booster, bled the brakes, and BINGO, power fourwheel drum brakes!
i just pulled one off my 51...worked fine....putting in a firewall unit soon...pm me if you are interested in it...
chevsofthe40s.com has both kits and complete master cylinders. $186 for the cylinder with a 50.00 core fot that kind of money I'd upgrade to a dual chamber MC 53-54 has a 7/8 bore. 49-52 has a 1" bore....
Thats what I did as there was no kits at the time . I kept it a straight drive so I needed to keep my clutch pedal! I 'm using a dual master cylinder mounted right off the side of the trans crossmember. It all stays above the bottom of the frame rail. Don't have a booster though. You can't make a nicer pedal mount than the stock master cylinder , if you want a easy way out.
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