Good day turns bad, Master Cylinder? Options

[jfort]

finally get car all back together. Tach and shift light work. Clean it up for the triumphant, it all works, spin around the block. Car is running great. I'm flying down a country road with a smile on my face. This is what it's all about! Put on the breaks, I feel pedal "pop" and go to the floor. No brakes! Limp home. Reservoir is empty. Nothing at any caliper. A little fluid on garage floor under about the pedals. Master cylinder? I don't even know where it is, yet. Under gas tank? Behind pedal cluster? How does one get to the master cylinder? I am searching for my .pdf manual now. DAMN!

[Eric_Shea]

it's not once you know the tricks...

Is it a family secret? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

BTW... the "trick" on the rear flex lines is to; "cut them off as close to the coupler of the hard line and use a deep well socket to remove it."

Getting a backup wrench on the hard line can still be difficult (try some of the access holes through the tin), but this will save you a ton of effort and you won't have to wash your mouth out with soap afterward. Be scared... it's not fun with the engine in the car.

[ArtechnikA]

it's not once you know the tricks...

Is it a family secret?

I didn't say it was secret - just tricky ...

I've done two /6's and a 4, never really had any difficulty. One of those /6's was a 23mm Mercedes MC.

The Trick is to dismount the reservoir lines from the car and assemble them into the MC with their horrible rubber gromets -ON THE BENCH- where you can see what you're doing and get some leverage. Then when you're confident that's all good, and the MC goes back into the car, thread the reservoir lines back up to the reservoir through their seal/grommets and reconnect.

Then - pressure bleeder.

For the back lines, cutting the old lines is a big help, especially if that deep socket is 6-point. I found that pulling the tensioning clip (small, sharp Vise-Grips) let me reposition the line to where I could get at both sides of the union more easily.

Finally - you MUST use flare nut wrenches on the hardline fittings.