Need help sorting out Master Cylinder questions

[7T1240]

I have a 1971 240Z, with an 11/70 production date. This past weekend, I went to remove the air cleaner to check and / or replace the air filter as needed. Problem is, I never got to evaluate the air filter, since I could not get the air cleaner off, obscured as it was by the master cylinder. Upon further investigation, I have found that the master cylinder currently on the car has the bleed screws pointing in toward the air cleaner, as opposed to the correct placement toward the fender. Also, the reservoirs are same sized - obviously not stock correct for an early '71, and not even like the '72 and on examples I have seen in my recent research. The brake lines, however, seem to retain their stock placement, i.e. the front reservoir to the front brakes, the rear (firewall) reservoir for the back brakes.

Oh, and I have no way of knowing if the brake booster is stock / correct for a 70-early 71, as there is no identifying nomenclature I can see. Can anyone tell what I've got here from the picture?

The caps on the m/c reservoirs are inscribed "Tokico". The wires on the m/c have bullet connectors, while the stock wiring low fluid connectors are male and female spade terminals. At least the bore is correct at 7/8.

So, question is, where do I go from here to restore the system to full functionality (air cleaner removable!)?

Gary S.

[Pir0San]

To me, it looks like your brake booster is not of the correct type. I believe the ones that came stock on the Z were Hitachi branded. Here's a pic of how mine looks, sorry about the bad pic, these were taken a while ago. As you can see in the second picture, there's a ton of clearance on mine.

[240 in OZ]

Early style is Tokico brand, switched to Nabco for 72 model year.

The early style has push fit caps.

Joseph

[zcarnut]

Someone has swapped the original master cylinder with a 15/16 inch diameter 280ZX version. The ZX had disc brakes on both the front and rear, hence the equal sized reservoirs. The ZX master also has the bleeder screws on the right side as pictured and note the wires going to the reservoirs. These come from the brake fluid level sensors which was used on the ZX but not the earlier Z cars.

The booster appears to be a 240Z [small] type.

[7T1240]

Zcarnut, you seem pretty right on on this one. I pulled the attachment below from the Black Dragon catalog. The unit on my car looks very much like 64-104 (1) Brake Master Cylinder 280ZX ZXT 79-81 pictured lower left on the attachment. The only discrepancy I find with your statement is that the unit on my car is 7/8, not 15/16 (it's cast into one side).

Also, I can see that the front reservoir has an "R" stamped below it, and the rear reservoir has an "F" stamped below it. But, the piping has not been changed, i.e. my car has the front reservoir piped to the front brakes.

On the booster, I recently thought that because the brake lines were not changed, that perhaps the booster was a series 1 style, maybe even the original, and that the paint was removed completely after spilt brake fluid had eaten away part of the original paint. I no longer believe this, as there is a pink dot visible at about 3 o'clock if sitting in the driver's seat, and I see no evidence of the decal that should have been affixed to the top.

So, it would seem like I have the following choices:

Buy brake booster and master cylinder for 70-71, stay with current piping.

Buy brake booster and master cylinder for 70-72 and either try to source used brake lines to reroute fronts and rears or make / have new brake lines made.

Sound about right?

Gary S.