• Hi Guest!
    If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Clutch master cylinder question

Share this page

Michael Oritt

Michael Oritt

Yoda
Silver
Country flag
Offline
I have a 5/8" Nissan hydraulic clutch master cylinder (Smitty's conversion) on my car. I noticed a leak at the cylinder over the weekend and while I was tightening the flare nut on the line to the slave cylinder I saw
something that has me confused:

There are two ports (tapped holes) on the cylinder body with a hydraulic hose to each, one in the middle of the body and one toward the closed front end of the cylinder. I would expect that the supply line from the hydraulic reservoir would be connected to the port in the middle of the cylinder and that the line to the slave cylinder would be connected to the port on the closed front end of the cylinder. Mine is hooked up just the opposite and the line going to the slave connects to the port in the middle.

Is this setup correct?
BTW the clutch works just fine.
 
Hi Michael,
You DO ask some unique questions. It must be correct or it wouldn't work. I can't explain exactly how it works but there are quite a few cars running around that have an integral reservoir on the front & a pressure connection further back. I guess if I was curious enough, I would completely disassemble it & poke around until I figured it out. Maybe someone "helpful" will come along.
D /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif
 
Well, as Rosanne Rosannadana always used to say: "NEVERMIND"!

Only after posting the query I reviewed Norman Nock's article on the later Big Healey brake cylinders and saw that they are configured exactly the same as the one that I described. (The tip of the plunger closes the inlet valve at the end of the cylinder which shuts off the line from the supply tank, etc.)

Sorry--Michael
 
Hi Michael,
Don’t feel bad. A mechanic friend of mine stopped by my garage one day and pointed out that I had installed the master cylinder lines backwards. He rebuilds International Scouts so he’s not familiar with Girling. From the outside, it does seem weird.
 
Back
Top