Re: Stainless sleeve for brake cyl

Posted by Fish'n Jim On 2015/8/29 20:33:08

Depends on what you want your car to be. If you want the all original as built cylinders and yours are pitted or worn past sealing, you have little choice but to sleeve. The cost is about the same or more of a repro wheel cylinder.
If you just want drum brakes, then go for the repros, because it'll save you weeks of time. But I found some of these had metric bleeders. You can retap and use SAE but risk leakage.
Apple Hydraulics and White post restoration are two common vintage brake cylinder rebuilders. They'll be able to tell you if it needs sleeved or not once they receive the parts. I cleaned up and put the original thicker wagner rubbers on the repros to make them undistinguishable. I had some strange corrosion from wicking on the lid of the master{Kanter}. {Probably bogus chinese gasket material is used.} You can find correct gasket and lids.
If it's driven alot then consider upgrade to dual master and maybe disc conversion. But disc often means can't use the stock wheels.
I tried to find modern more easily obtainable parts to fit but had no luck with fitment but I was redoing a '49 at that time. The bore sizes and hole patterns are typically different, but could be converted if you know what you're doing but may not resemble stock.
Consider as part of your brake rebuild to replace the brake lines and hoses as you'll contaminate the new parts/fluid with rust, etc.