Hi,

I'm just about to fit new brake cylinders and a new master cylinder (been putting it off for nearly two years but one rear cylinder finally gave up the ghost over the winter). I know that when rebuilding existing ones the new seals should be coated with brake fluid before assembly. If they're new out of the box do they need to be taken apart to do this or can they be fitted straight away? (I think that they can but I reckon that its safer to ask first!)

One of the great things about Volvos is that they usually give you plenty of warning before anything fails and the part that fails usually looks like its been there for decades. This can lead to bad habits like leaving the brakes for two years before fixing them...... Having bought a Triumph last year I've grown to appreciate the Volvo more and more both in terms of its indestructability and how easy it is to work on. The Triumph is completely different - its a dog to work on and the parts quality isn't anywhere near Volvo levels.

Anyway - back to the brakes - thanks in advance for any advice.

Aidan
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1967 131, 1969 131, 1973 Triumph GT6

Aidan;

What's silly about asking?

Outside of maintaining their cleanliness, there's nothing secret or sacred about opening up new wheel cylinders. As a matter of fact, I have a bit of a pre-installation procedure for new wheel cylinders:

1. Pop out pistons, inspect the pistons, seals and bores (imagine how nice the pistons will slide and seals will seal against this surface...smile!)
2. Check lubricant on seals...add a little more Girling red lube...OR, relube with silicon grease if a conversion to DOT5 fluid is planed.
3. Remove bleeding nipple, reinstall with anti-seize on threads...and while I'm playing tinman, lube the fitting threads and mounting hardware holes too.

Cheers

Just put 'em straight in... you run more risk of compromising the longevity of the new parts by taking them apart and getting them back together.

I agree with you on the quality of Volvo parts.. they are top notch... you don't find that with British cars. Then again, you *did* get a Triumph. What were you thinking? (actually, I've always like the GT6...)

Old Jaguar parts are perhaps better in some respects. Worse in some. But the engineering is.. well... lets just not talk about xk120 engineering.

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-Matt '70 145s, '65 1800s, '66 122s wagon, others inc. '53 XK120 FHC

Matt;

I dissagree with your statement: "you run more risk of compromising the longevity of the new parts by taking them apart and getting them back together"....if you do it at the beach maybe, but if you work on your own brakes, you should be working at a high level of care...and if you don't trust yourself to do that, you better give the car to a complete stranger mechanic to work on that critical safety system...in industry this is called Incoming Inspection!

Cheers

Thanks - not taking them apart will make the job easier as well.

As far as the Triumph goes, I was looking for a P1800S for a while but the ones that I looked at were too expensive or had nice spray jobs over very dubious bodywork - the Triumph just came along when I was giving up the search - I like it really but its fragile. Those XKs look and sound so well I'd imagine that you could forgive them almost anything....

Aidan
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1967 131, 1969 131, 1973 Triumph GT6

Those old Jags are interesting. A neat mixture of shoddy junk right next to incredibly elegant engineering. You can tell they were built to a price, and where the money that was spent went (ahem - motor).
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I'm JohnMc, and I approved this message.

You nailed that right about the old Jags... Over-engineering does not make good engineering. But they sure made a fine motor... and of course don't forget the achingly beautiful bodywork (albeit of shoddy construction).

As for my comment on the brake bits... If them parts are new, they surely were lubed prior to assembly. Check if you want, but if the piston moves freely in the bore, I stick with saying its fine to just pop on the car. I've never taken apart a new or professionally rebuilt hydraulic part, and I've never had one fail.

What I *have* done is wrecked a seal trying to install a rebuild kit by simply not being able to get the seal past the groove where the C-clip lives, and ended up pinching a tiny bit of it right off... Granted, that was not on a Volvo. I've never had a problem with that on Volvos.



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-Matt I ♥ my ♂

I like to pull the dust boots and slide the pistons back and forth. Nothing nasty and I continue. Anything ugly and back they go!

I have MGs too. They weren't hit quite as hard as the Triumph/Standard or Jaguar plants during the socialist "upheavals" of the 50s and 60s. As a result I can depend utterly on the 'ol girls.
Honestly, I've seen a lot of similarities between the 122 and my mgb... mostly in thickness of sheet metal!

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Mike!