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Author: Subject: Girling Tandem Master Cylinder - Help!
pekwah1

posted on 7/2/12 at 10:22 PM Reply With Quote
Girling Tandem Master Cylinder - Help!

Hi Guys,

I have a westie tandem master cylinder attached to my car which appears to be buggered!
I've had it in pieces a number of times now, but it just won't send any fluid out of the primary port.

Problem is these are very hard to get now.
http://retweeter.co.uk/magento/index.php/braking-systems/standard-tandem-brake-master-cylinder.html

As you can see also a fair bit of money for an old master cylinder.

So, does anyone have any decent suggestions for an alternative that won't cost the earth and won't need me messing around with my already fitted brake lines?
Otherwise any suggestions for someone i could just take this damn cylinder to and let them fix it for me?

Help appreciated!!!
Regards,
Andy

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Dusty

posted on 8/2/12 at 12:38 AM Reply With Quote
You may be able to fix it yourself.
Unless you take great care with rebuilding a tandem M/C it's easy to get one of the seals the wrong way round. There are usually four seals, two each on primary and secondary pistons and two springs. First define the secondary piston as the one between the two springs and not directly pushed by the pushrod. The primary piston is the one physically pushed by the pushrod. When I refer to back I mean the pushrod end of the cylinder. Front is obviously the other end.
The seals on the secondary piston are 'odd'. The front one pushes fluid forward and thus has its lip facing forward. The back one on the secondary piston is hydraulically pushed by the primary piston and thus has its seal with the lip facing backwards. The seals on the primary piston both have their lip forwards.
The springs are often different with the front one having one thinner end which pushes on to the front of the secondary piston. The other spring is usually loose between the two pistons.
For fluid to enter the cylinders the pistons must retract far enough to uncover the feed holes from the reservoir. Sometimes position/adjustment of the pedal on the pushrod stops one or both pistons retracting far enough.
Both reservoir feed holes must be patent. There may also be a second hole, a bypass port just behind the feed hole for the secondary piston. This must also be patent.
Finally it can be a pain to get fluid to flow into a dry M/C and pressurising the reservoir with a pressure bleeding kit may need to be used to get flow started.
I'm sure it is worth stripping and checking the above points before discarding the parts as unserviceable.

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pekwah1

posted on 8/2/12 at 09:02 AM Reply With Quote
Thanks for the reply dusty.
Some good info there, guess i'm just getting fed up with messing around with the damn thing!!

I'll have another go at some point.... All i want is some brakes!!!

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rusty nuts

posted on 8/2/12 at 08:29 PM Reply With Quote
Might be worth priming the master cylinder before fitting ? Fill the reservoir, push thepush rod in,hold it in, cover the outlets with your finger tip and release push rod, repeat until all air is expelled then refit and bleed. HTH
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pekwah1

posted on 9/2/12 at 08:41 AM Reply With Quote
well i've had another play....
Think it has been successful!

Having no pressure/priming system, i had to think INSIDE the box..... you'll see what that means in a sec....!

Basically i took a large tub, filled the thing with brake fluid.
Then stripped out the master cylinder and attached the resevoir... see where this is going?
Yep, then submerged the whole thing in the tub and while still under started putting the two pushrods back in.
Then reattached the circlip etc and put bolts in the holes before drying off and remounting on the car.

Then spent a while pumping away!

Fixed one problem and created another. Took me about half an hour to push my car back into the garage.... appears my front brakes may have seized from being stood too long... oops!
Looks like i might be stripping down the calipers now!

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