Thread: Fun with brakes

I have had some brake problems for a while where the pedal was sinking when holding my foot on the brake and it was getting worse. The only thing that hadn't been changed in the brake system was the booster so I thought it was that. Changed it out for a new one and it didn't help, brakes would still sink to the floor slowly when held on. The master cylinder had been stainless sleeved and rekitted only a couple of months ago but it seemed that this was still a problem. It doesn't seem to be possible to buy this master cylinder in Australia though it is still available in the UK. This is for the Game and is a dual circuit master cylinder but it is actually a different size to the one in a 109 and it is also the opposite way around as in the front brakes run from the front section rather than the rear.

So I went to visit the people who sleeved it but they weren't really helpful and wanted me to pull it out and bring it to them and then they couldn't guarantee how long it would take to fix whatever was wrong. So I visited FWD and they had a kit that seemed to be the right one so I got it to try out as I need the car on Sunday for a drive. So I pulled the master cylinder out and found that the "tipper valve" was stuffed (little valve that controls the fluid coming in to the master cylinder) and there wasn't one of those in the kit. Quick call to BHSS down at Capalaba but they don't come in any kits so I went down there and they found that they are a standard part in all sorts of master cylinders so I got a complete valve. While looking at it I noticed that the stainless sleeve didn't line up properly with the hole the valve went into and there was an edge of a couple of mm that was the reason the first valve had given up. So BHSS fixed that for me and cleaned up the inside of the cylinder that was also a mess and I came home to put it all together again.

One thing I noticed while putting it back together was that the front piston and the stainless sleeve was 1" while the back piston was the proper .87" and didn't appear to be sleeved. So I have no idea what the people did who sleeved it but they really seem to have butchered it. Not really happy with them. I think I will buy a new one from the UK just to be certain.

Anyway got it back together and the brakes now work again. Just a bit of adjusting and they should be perfect .

Hope that wasn't too long and boring .

TimJ.

Sleeved master cylinders almost always crap out, in my experience. Either a crap job is done in the first place or the sleeve eventually "weeps" where it has been pressed in.

I think its really only a option for a bodge-up or if you have some super rare vehicle with parts not available.

My .02

Adam