Good morning all, I’ve decided having my brake pedal randomly drop to the bottom is getting old.
What’s everyone’s source for master cylinders for these beasts?
My experiences with my Triumphs say stay away from Moss.
Thanks!
Take the old one apart and if the bore isn’t scored it’s 20$ for new seals. I can walk you through dismantling and putting back together, clean everything well and it’s a walk in the park.
It’s not just getting old but it might stop you from getting old, or rather not stop the car eventually. I had mine suddenly fail like that and it wasn’t great.
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I bought mine from SNG Barratt several years ago, works just fine.
I may take you up on that offer, working on acquiring a rebuild kit.
This car had been sitting for 5 years before I inherited it so I am hoping it’s just seals.
The more pressing issue I have is I know the rear bleed screws are rusted solid.
No point attending the master without fixing these first, as you wont be able to bleed
You will need to take them out, soak in penetrant, then use butane gas repeatedly, then, if you are lucky, a socket will break them loose.
They will almost certainly need rebuilding after 5 years
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Back in the 1980s and 1990s I used to send Brake Masters and Servos (mostly E Types) to White Post Restorations.
https://whitepost.com/brake-sleeving-rebuilding-services/
Have not used them in at least 20 years.
They did a great job of getting obsolete cylinders functioning again.
Oh not necessarily, but when any oil gets to the seals they will swell and need to be changed…
It will need new brake fluid of course.
Propane torch and a box spanner or brake line spanner will get it off. But… in the car it is very awkward to do this.
I install 2-3 of these sourced from Ebay et al every four months or so, and haven’t had any fail. They are readily available through a number of sellers.
I have personally found that nearly all 30+ year old brake pistons will form some pitting of the chrome, or caliper, they may still work, but its not ideal
I recently had a battle with some less than 30 yr old brake parts, and they just laughed at brake spanners as they rounded, so I resorted to propane, and the smallest alligator jaw spanner I have that are tremendous for getting rounded fasteners without wrecking them
wow in all my years of wrenching it somehow never occurred to me to rebuild the master cylinder.
Just watched “Living with a Classic”'s doing a S2 MC and it’s just a bunch of seals (and honing).
Ordered a mc rebuild kit, new bleeders, pads, rear caliper rebuild kits (just in case), much beer, and a swear jar 
Really wasn’t wanting to put this car on the road yet but my “modern” daily keeps eating transmissions.
Such a hardship having to drive a Jaaaaag to work
If the car has been sitting a long time and or not had the fluid changed regularly, be prepared for the rust on the bottom of the bore to be too much to hone and the seals to seal. As motorman said, if you don’t want to purchase a new one, White Post does the resleeve in brass and it won’t ever leak again, but the cost will be more than just putting a new one per my link.
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I’m mainly rebuilding to try it out, but I have a rebuilt one coming but it’s weeks away and the joy of the price basically doubling coming from US to CA
I have only looked at 4 XJ master cylinders.
One has sat for ~ 45 years
One was at least neglected for decades
One has not been used much in 10 years and
One has sat for a long time, although I‘m not sure if it was for a few decades or just one.
None have had bore issues and were rebuildable (the oldest one didn’t even need it). Not one was honed. So I‘d say while corrosion is totally possible inspection always the first step unless you’re in a hurry.
Put a towel down and tin foil to protect the paint.
I thought that all resleevers did it in stainless steel, Jeff - much superior to brass at around the same price. And resleeving is a 20 minute job anyway…
Frank
xj6 85 Sov Europe (UK/NZ)
Just wanted to toss out another repair source in case anyone was interested. I’ve used this company many times and had great luck:
http://www.applehydraulics.com/
Cheers
DD
White Post uses brass - I’m going on 20 years on the resleeve in my MK7 with them (I had them do all my wheel cylinders too) - I personally have never had anything sleeved in stainless.
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Wow. OK, I keep thinking this car is hard to get parts for like my Stag.
Just called the local parts store and they had the MC and calipers in their warehouse and 1/3 the price of Moss.
Guess what I am doing this weekend
You often find things cheaper after some searching, that’s why you asked in the first place didn’t you - I prefer rebuilding what I can but in your case, yes, go for it!
As far as rear brakes go you‘re in for something… definitely not just next weekend!
just dont throw the old ones away yet!
new parts arent always as good as one would wish, and rebuildable OEM spares are worth having if you wish to retain your car, and have a resale value on Ebay etc
In my case, re-sleeving with SS cost less than new items, but sounds like you are getting a good deal, sometimes, with these cars, cheap parts do come along
(usually when you dont need them)
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