Brakes failed last night. Very close to home, brake pedal went to floor, would pump up and hold brakes a second or two, then back to the floor. I slipped into Low and came slowly up hill to my driveway, coasted in and used a little Reverse to completely stop. I don't want that happening again. Do any members have information on a kit for safety's sake? Thanks a lot.
Just noticed where you are. I'd go see ECI Brakes in Ellington. They do all the street rod brake stuff and kits and the owner is pretty helpful. Wouldn't hurt to bring the old master cylinder with you.
Have checked out late 60's GM dual master cylinders but they have the brake lines on the driver's side. I need a MC with p***enger side outlets. There is a Jeep master cylinder with those provisions but I hoped GM would have a late model solution.
Your master cylinder has a bad primary cup. I would think you could get a new one from Kanter, Rockauto, someone like that. If not you could get a rebuild kit and rebuild it. Very simple. Putting a dual cylinder sounds like a great idea, but might need more plumbing.
if its anything like my 63 riv, its an easy swap. Big finned drums up front? inch bore on the stock master cylinder? Deep hole in the mc piston or shallow hole?
You didn't say it was the MC or a blow out in a brake line. Had a similar situation happen hitting the brakes, but I blew a hole in a 45deg bend in a rear line. Line was rusted inside and thin on the bend.
I used a Mustang master in my 60 Chevy, think its a 67 or 68,( for drum brakes) don't need a kit, only thing you have to do is get a fitting for the stop light switch, I put in in the rear line, master don't have it.
The problem with the 61-63 Special and F-85 is the diagonal brace right next to the master cylinder. This brace precludes the use of a GM master cylinder with the outlets on the driver's side. The popular MC swap is from a Ford Fairmont, which has the outlets on the p***enger side of the MC.
Found the master cylinder needed from a Jeep at NAPA. One of the HAMB'ers jumped to my rescue with the part #. Mounting holes lined up correctly. I cut the pushrod and welded an adjustable threaded rod to it then replumbed the lines. Not very pretty but I now have Brakes. thanks everyone. Now I need to find aftermarket wheels.
Sorry to have just found this, but an early 80's Ford Fairmont M/C works well in my 62 Cutl***. As for aftermarket wheels, good luck, 4 x 4 1/2 doesn't eist unless you like chrome smoothies. I re-drilled my axles, drums and hubs and added disc brakes, now I am running Olds ralley wheels. I have heard that Corvair hubs will work on the front, but the rears must be drilled. Andy
Not really. The 4 x 4.5 bolt circle was used on millions of six cylinder Mustangs and Falcons. The selection certainly isn't what you can get for five bolt wheels, but they are out there. I've got a set of 14" slot mags on my 62 F-85. Mine were from Craigslist, but you can still buy them new. Also, I should point out that 4 x 114.3 mm IS 4 x 4.5". There are tons of wheels in with this bolt circle, but most are very "ricer". Of course, most also have the FWD offset, but with the small wheel wells on the 61-63 Skylark/F-85, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Spacers also fix that problem. Some RWD imports, like 260-280-300Z cars and some RX7s also use that bolt pattern and wheels are available to fit those cars.
slim what was the Napa part # for that MC. would love to put one on my 61 special wagon i am working on. Na can you explain a little more about the rod that you had to weld on to it. How long,ext. Thanks . Tom
It has been kinda driving me nuts to see this thread end without anyone sharing a solution for this so after I figured something out on my own for my '61 Special I decided to share: The master cylinder I used was a Centric 130.63010, and the finished install ended up in my opinion looking pretty good. It runs about $50 and plumbed in fairly decent. have a nice day. P.s. yes, I needed to cut a notch in the frame rail to make it fit, but not a heck of a lot of it.
The Jalopy Journal
