early 240z brake master cylinder

[DRBall]

Kragens still on there website has rebulit brake master cylinders for sale...They come with out the resievors however...At a round $40.00 it's a good deal....I'm going to call on monday....

[Arne]

In all my years of working on cars, both my own and as a way to make a living, I've never had a rebuilt master cylinder last for any significant amount of time. Many of them failed before the 90 day warranties expired. I will not trust my brakes to a rebuilt, and in fact bought a new early master cylinder from my local Nissan dealer a couple months back. There were 5 left in the US at that time.

[zbane]

I agree with Arne, rebuilts are iffy. The brakes were starting to fail on my previous car (92 Accord), so I took it to my usual shop, where they installed a rebuilt master cylinder from carquest. Tech went for a spin, came back, threw it back on the lift and ordered another one. The rebuilt replacement was bad straight out of the box. If you can find a "new" one, go for it, your life depends on it.

[JimmyZ]

Does Kragens offer a kit?? I had my master cyl bored and a bronze liner added. White Post Restorations did this 15 years ago.

I bought the last rebuild kit from Nissan a couple months ago. It's a shame that nobody offers a kit. I replaced the rubbers as prevntative maint and found the bronze bore to be shiny and smooth.

My local NAPA offered a rebuild service for the early MC maybe they have a parts list for the individual rubber parts.

You can still buy a brand new MC for around $275.

2c

Jim

[Arne]

Tech went for a spin, came back, threw it back on the lift and ordered another one. The rebuilt replacement was bad straight out of the box.

I can't even count the number of times I had this happen when installing a rebuilt on a customer's car. Or how many of them that didn't fail on the test drive, failed in the next week or two. Eventually my employer at that time adopted a "no rebuilts" policy, because having to replace the same cylinder several times in a 90 day warranty is no way to make a profit.

[Arne]

Does Kragens offer a kit?? I had my master cyl bored and a bronze liner added. White Post Restorations did this 15 years ago.

I bought the last rebuild kit from Nissan a couple months ago. It's a shame that nobody offers a kit. I replaced the rubbers as prevntative maint and found the bronze bore to be shiny and smooth.

My local NAPA offered a rebuild service for the early MC maybe they have a parts list for the individual rubber parts.

You can still buy a brand new MC for around $275.

Yes, if you get your original cylinder sleeved, that could work well - if the job was well done. But that's about the only way I'd consider a rebuilt.

My Nissan dealer gives me a nice discount as a 240Z club member. I got my new early master cylinder for $185.

[a7dz]

Make that four of less in the US then as I too bought one from a dealer. Same price as Arne delivered to my door step. My experiences are like Arne's rebuilts in my opinion are scrap metal. Like Jimmy said unless they are sleeved do not use them. The difference in price is not worth your getting hurt or worse.

[BRE-240Z]

Make that four of less in the US then as I too bought one from a dealer. Same price as Arne delivered to my door step. My experiences are like Arne's rebuilts in my opinion are scrap metal. Like Jimmy said unless they are sleeved do not use them. The difference in price is not worth your getting hurt or worse.

My Nissan parts guy says that there are plenty of early Nissan master cylinders left in the system, but the problem with them is the price (they are not cheap, but on the other hand you get what you pay for). This is happening with a lot of Nissan parts now.....if you haven't priced an alternator from Nissan lately, get prepared for some massive sticker shock.

You can add me to the list of those who bought a master cylinder recently.

[DRBall]

Still for someone who did not have the correct brake master cylinder it might be a good deal if you have it resleved and than rebuilt...I also thought that the Nisson ones where sold out...I have got a used one from ebay and the one I'm going to buy from Kragen's is just a stop gap...Or I might buy a new one...BTW the car I bought has the wrong one.And I can not drive it..Also no they do not offer a kit NAPA might...And as for alternator's just check the stator and rebuild...I have done that to other old cars...

[DRBall]

I will call White Post tomorrow and have the used one redone by them. It seems to me that they also rebuild them with new parts as well.And they offer fast service....But I still think it's a good idea to use Kragen's part as a band aid.. If you can not find the correct part....As an added note I do not think White Post is going anywhere(30+ years) and counting...So ask them if they have rebuild kit's....

[JimmyZ]

Hiya & FYI:)

White Post doesn't offer rubber kits. All they do is bore and insert a bronze or stainless sleeve. This sleeve is then reamed and/or honed to spec. WP doesn't rebuild cylinders they just get the MC bore back to tolerances. It is really a thing for rare and exotic cars but they humored me just the same. Really nice people.

As mentioned NAPA didn't sell a rebuild kit but a local NAPA store did offer a service where I'd send it to them and they would stick in some new rubbers. (My thoughts on rubbers at end of post)

If you can swing it I'd just buy the master cylinder from Nissan. (If they still sell the early one) When I went there I wasn't armed with a part number but they said that the part had been superceeded by the 8/71-> model MC. Still, I was able to find that some parts stores showed that you could buy the "correct" MC for $275-$300.

BRE... Did you say that there are only four left??!! Seems your parts counter is better than mine. Four though:(

After taking several other master cylinders apart I've come to the conclusion that the style of rubber used in the early MC design isn't common. Perhaps my NAPA had the inside track perhaps they just THOUGHT they did. Since I do machining as a hobby I like to study such things. The early internals for the MC are more complex than other designs. This doesn't mean that it would be that hard to make some altered internals that utilize readily obtainable rubbers though. I've got about 7-15 years to figure this one out before the MC needs rubbers again.

Pic of rebuild kit... Too bad nobody has/offers one anymore.

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=14492&d=1160278383

[DRBall]

This is the info I got from White Post Restorations. Total rebuild including installing new brass sleeves and all new parts to rebuild the master cylinder $250.00 including shipping.This service has a limited lifetime warranty.So if you own a master cylinder that has been rebuilt by them and the seals give out call them @ 540-837-1140 and ask for billy..Just remember if your sending the master cylinder to them for this service do not take it a part just drain the brake fluid out. As for the new master cylinder from nissan the cost is $220.00 plus shipping...They say that it's not in stock but can ship in 2-3 days btw this quote is from courtesy nissan....