Brass or Stainless Steel - Brake Cylinder Sleeving

[Cowtown Commander]

Used Master Cylinder I got for the 38 needs to be sleeved - see some rebuilders offer brass some stainless - anyone have exprience on material & who to use?

[StudeRich]

If the price exceeds $280.00 it's time to consider a NEW M/C.

[mbstude]

Rich, is a new MC for a '38 available?

I have a friend who sent the MC from his '38 to White Post Restorations and had it sleeved in brassed. That was several years ago and it still works perfect. http://www.whitepost.com/

[StudeRich]

Yes it is, for '35--'40 Dictator & Comm. , '37-'39 Coupe Express, '34-'40 President and '41-'48 M5 Truck.
We can sell a NEW one for $250.00 list is $280.00

[studeski]

I've been using brass for 20 years. No problems. I send my stuff to Apple Hydraulics. They will do stainless also. They sleeve and I put my own kit in. If you don't have hill holder you can use a Ford m/c from Mac's. They are $90. http://www.applehydraulics.com/brakes.htm http://macsautoparts.com/early-v8-br.../227/start/24/

[Neal in NM]

I just sleeved a master cylinder for a ’47 Plymouth. It was kind of tricky because of the depth and reach. I prefer to use stainless steel because it will never corrode due to moisture whereas brass has a little issue with it. Stainless is a little more expensive but, in the long run it will never be a problem again.
A funny thing about that master, I happened to be out of town when the customer called me complaining that he couldn’t bench bleed it. In fact he called several times, which had me second guessing my work and impacting my time off. The owner of the Plymouth showed up in my shop a couple of day’s latter kind of sheepish and smiling. It turns out the problem was with the piston supplied with the rebuild kit. One of the seal grooves in the piston was too small allowing fluid to slip past. He installed the original piston (it was in good shape) and the problem was solved. Neal

[WCP]

I parted out a '62 Hawk in the late '70's that had a M/C that had been sleeved in brass, probably in the late '60's. The brass sleeve showed a lot of wear, so brass is probably not best for a daily driver. The Hawk wasn't a high mileage car, as I recall - maybe in the 80,000 mile range.