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All the Healey cylinders are aluminum with a hard finish on the inside. This is destroyed by honing. Therefore if there are any problems, replace.

In addition to BP NW (which, if they have a part, generally have the best price on it), Pegasus Auto Racing carries original Girling replacement cylinders, clevis rods & clevises at very reasonable prices. The cylinders are by bore size and are marked on the outside of the casting. When I went thru this last year, one or two of the Pegasus cylinders were quite a bit cheaper than those at Moss.

FWIW--my understanding of the rubber problems is they only affect 20-year-old NOS replacement parts and the modern rubber works with anything. I've been using NAPA DOT-4 fluid for a couple of years and have had occasion to examine the rubber after a few months of use and observed no deterioration.

There has been a problem with clutches and brakes staying 'on' after application, and it my case it was with a Moss replacement cylinder where the rubber ring seal just inside the circlip was positioning the piston just far enough forward to cover the feed opening from the reservoir, thereby preventing the pushing of the fluid back up toward the reservoir during retraction. On removal of this seal, the cylinder works properly.
 
tried bleeding the system yesterday and got some fluid out but we lost pressure very easily in the bleeder which i would assume to be because the MC isnt installed right now? while my dad pumped the bleeder, i went to the lines that connect to the MC and with my finger over the one that comes out of the MC and then two the 4 wheels, i could feel the suction but holding my finger in place but doing this did not help to suck any more fluid out. second, we decided to just try to unhook the incoming brake lines at each wheel but stopped because the lines were fused to the "nut" im going to call it that, so whenever the nut was spun, so was the line which meant they would break after a few turns. we put PB blaster on it and waited a while but this didnt help. Any suggestions? maybe just cut the lines and get new ones? anyways, were trying to chug forward and any help is, as always, much appreciated. Andrew
 
I forgot to mention:
If you want to test a cylinder out of the car--with the piston in the outermost, relaxed, position, you should be able to blow in one port and hear it coming out of the other. If that is not true, check for the rubber seal previously mentioned pushing the piston just far enough forward to block the rear port. It only takes about 1/32" of forward piston movement to block the port.
 
alright. yesterday we looked at the rear drums and they really looked good. how does one get to the cylinder to check to see what kind of state it is in? also, does anyone have any experience in temporarily welding in a brace under the floor boards to keep the car drivable? The floor boards are rusted away from the sills along the sides so when we sit in the car the floor moves slightly. we would like to be able to poke around town in the car before the day,month,year comes that we tear it all apart and do a ground up restoration on it but as of now, even with the brakes in perfect running order, we cant take it more than a couple blocks without feeling unsafe in it. the idea would be to run some sort of supporting beam from the inside frame rails to the outside door sills just to have something holding the floor up. any ideas? thanks
 
"Early" british rubbers would disintegrate with darn near ANYTHING other than Castrol. Our lovely Federal fathers(NHTSA) in their efforts to improve drivers safety mandated that all new and replacement rubbers used in braking(sometime in the late 70's or early 80's) would be compatible with Dot 3 brake fluid.. So if you have hoses and boots and cups and other components that are older than the late 70's stay with Castrol.

If you have new(er) rubber compound components then Dot3, Dot 4, or a complete flush with Dot5.

Dot 5 does not like to intermix with Dot3 or Dot4 (ester based versus silicone)So I recommend a complete flush, making sure that any "high" points in the hydraulic tubing, routing are flushed from Dot3/4 with Dot 5...

The molecules in Dot5 are slightly larger than Dot3/4 so their compressibility is slightly greater. Some people say they can feel this in the pedal. My experience after using Dot5 since 1977 is, after a good bleed, let it settle after a drive around the block, a rebleed the next day and NO difference in pedal "sponginess" feel. Course I don't drive on a circuit either.

The greatest thing about Silicone is it doesn't eat paint.. The next greatest thing about silicone, is it is non-hygroscopic, so it doesn't absorb moisture and lasts a lot longer than Dot3/4, The third greates thing about silicone, is it's boiling point is higher than almost all Dot3/4's except for racing formulas, which you would want to flush after every event.
 
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