51 Pontiac Chieftain... No Brake Master Cylinder??

Hey guys time to redeem myself lol.... i bought a 51 pontiac chieftain a very slick car all original chrome still there and a pretty straight body.... one big problem though....

while unloading the car i noticed there were no brakes at all... i opened the hood to look for the master cylinder and there was nothing on the firewall....

it has brake lines running to the wheels but i cant quite follow where they go to and where the heck the master cylinder is to bleed/add fluid to try to get this tank of a car to stop

any help would be much appreciated

 

Try under driver's floor. May be a fill tube under hood where hood meets windshield on drivers side. That is how it is on my 55 Cadillac, might be similar. Good luck.

Kirk

 

Im not too familiar with GM products, but on mopars the master is under the floor

 

look for an access cover on the driver's floor along the frame rail. Master cylinder should be mounted on the frame.

 

The master is on the frame under the area of the brake pedel if it's manual brakes. There should be a removable floorpan piece around the brake pedal...

 

okay i see one around all three pedals thanks alot guys i will pull it off in a bit to see what i can find

 

any good places to find replacement steel for these old cars?

 

Pull up the mat, or carpet and look for an access plate. I have seen a few cars that have been repaired in this area where did not bother to put an access plate back in, so be on the look-out for repairs.

You will find (if it is original), a single-circuit master cylinder there. This is not something you really want, unless this is a restoration. One leak=total brake failure.

This might be a good time to upgrade to a dual-circuit unit, where one leak=50% brake failure.

 

any information on a brake upgrade would be much appreciated lol i just want to get her on the road again

 

you might try EMS.

Walton Fab, The Filling Station, ECI can help you out.

 

EMS? sorry im new to the sheetmetal and old parts

 

http://www.emsautomotive.com/

 

http://www.pontiacforum.com/pontiac/showthread.php?p=6809

Found the EMS place and the pontiac master cyl. answer both through google search. Very handy tool, I use it all the time for parts and questions. Lots of info on here also but sometimes quicker to use a search engine.

 

Here is my upgrade/single jug solution. I searched and didn't find a solution that didn't involve some cutting (and I wanted to leave my firewall alone)


http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=308693

 

Scarebird makes a bracket kit for disc brakes and also a bracket to mount a dual chamber mc in the factory location.

 

There's a master there somewhere. Get it up in the air and look under the car by the gas/brake pedal.

There is usually a rubber plug right around the gas pedal under the carpet.

If my 40 Pontiac's have one, the 51 has to have one..

 

Its under the steering column in the engine bay.

 

use chassis engineering in iowa

 

Also, you may find it easier to search for 51 chevy. Lots of interchange.

Is this a power glide car or three on the tree?

As said earlier, It's under the drivers floor.

 

The master is on the frame rail under the driver floor!

 

The last time this guy posted about this problem it was last february..I'd imagine he found the master cylinder in almost a year.

 

Why did they hide, that is the only word for it, the master cylinder?

 

That's where the pedals went!