VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - GENERAL Trucks and Vans 1946 Chevy Brakes

The primary reason a cylinder needs bored out and have a sleeve inserted is to get rid of the pitting and damage done when the piston stuck to the bore or the moisture in the brake fluid caused corrosion.

I would be cautious in thinking that a cylinder could be bored out to the next standard size ands still have enough material in the wall to resist the internal load (brake line pressure) and external load (reaction force to the braking force). Plus you still would have to find a kit that size pistons.

A sleeved cylinder is not bored out very much so not as much material is removed. Plus the thin sleeve adds material back to the overall cylinder so it will handle the loads.

In response to your questions:
- Brake cleaner is specifically formulated for cleaning brake system components. It will not damage friction material or rubber.
- In my situation I am more concerned that the weeping is a sign that the seal is damaged and potentially will fail when I really need the brakes. At a minimum I know that it is only a matter of time before the weep becomes a leak and ruins the shoes.
- We have Rock Auto wheel cylinders and a master cylinder on my friend's '49 3100. We installed them over a year ago. The truck is not ready to drive on the street yet but we do move it periodically and use the brakes. No signs of any issues with the brakes.

Which reminds me you will need to deal with the master cylinder to get an operating brake system. You have not mentioned your plans for that. I also strongly recommend that you plan to replace the 3 rubber brake lines in the system unless you know that they are fairly new.

If you don't mind let me offer an idea that might make things easier for you. I understand and agree with your desire to get the DMV work (especially the title transfer) completed. My concern is that at a minimum you will be doing work that has to be re-done or perhaps you will have a less than reliable brake system.

Is there a process in your state that would allow you to transfer the title and put the car into some type of an inactive or storage status? For example, you could complete the title transfer but not apply for a vehicle license until the truck was really ready for the street. I owned my car for over 10 years before I licensed it.

Take care,

Don't know if you noticed or not. Looking at the wheel cylinders, they have several different offering. The cheaper ones, when clicked on and viewed up close, have some marking cast/stamped on the body. Now the higher priced ones have U. S. A. cast/stamped on the body.


I put these on my '48 4 yrs. ago. No problems so far.

"Having worked at brake specialist workshop I would send the cylinders to a specialist for resleeving with stainless steel now and forget about trying to bore them out yourself. While it is not impossible the $1 you save is not worth the grief of getting it wrong."

Good morning Tony.

Some very few of us actually enjoy doing challenging projects like taking a small bore wheel cylinder and boring it to the next OEM size. That's why I suggested it to Alan when he stopped here to visit me and my 'restored '36 PU. I have collected several Huck wheel cylinders and the castings all look the same. Only the bore differs. I may be missing something but that tells me that the same casting was used for all the bores, thus reboring should be no problem. A rebored and honed wheel cylinder would be identical to a new USA made part, making buying low quality China repops irrelevant.

Likewise making new wheel cylinder pistons using aluminum round bar stock would be a simple task.

There is no question that a single casting can be machined into a variety of end products. Another example is the sought after sbc 3970010 block. It was made from 1969-80 in 2 and 4-bolt main cap configurations and 302, 327 and 350 cubic inch displacements.

Like me, Alan has a machine shop at home and knows how to use it. This discussion of the potential to rebore wheel cylinders is an example of how information/idea sharing can be helpful.

Ray W

Almost every time you can re-use a USA made part it will be superior to an imported one. The use of one casting being used for several part numbers is quite common. I envy anyone who has a home machine shop as getting good machine work done is usually expensive.

"I envy anyone who has a home machine shop as getting good machine work done is usually expensive."

Steve,

There are some huge benefits to having a hobby level machine shop at home. The biggest is that anything you can imagine you can make in the comfort and convenience of your own home, You get the job done right, which in itself is not so common any more. You also save the huge set up and hourly fees that machine shops charge when they're willing to do small custom projects at all. The money saved will very quickly pay for a small lathe with a milling attachment or better yet a lathe and a milling machine that are common on ebay.

The car hobby is, to some of us, a reason to learn new skills and keep old one sharp. Here's just one personal example. A couple of years one of my neighbors who is into vintage car racing took me to one of those events. There I was struck by the beauty of engine turned metal panels on some of the vintage race cars. That motivated me to learn how to do engine turning here at home. I got so into it at first that my wife was getting some teasing about being an "engine turning widow".

If you're interested I can show you photos of how that engine turning turned out. I think you'd like it.

Ray W

The wiring may be hooked up backwards if it's trying to move the wrong way.