new master and booster question

[78_Elky]

Hey guys,

My master cylinder is leaking and it has "rotted" my brake booster. I don't drive the car much and only just recently noticed that the brakes are getting a little worse. A friend of mine pointed out the mess and lack of paint on the back of the master cylinder where it mounts to the booster and said it looks like its failing and leaking into the booster. In the past this happened to him and it destroys the bellows in the booster.

Have any of you guys replaced the booster and the master cylinder? I know I can get the parts for $150 or so but how hard is it to get the booster out? I have bled the brakes in the past (own a power bleeder) so I know I can do that but is this a project best left to a shop? I was quoted almost $400 and that seemed a little bit high for me, 2 hours of labor + 55 to bleed the brakes + parts.

Thanks,
Jess

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Replacement is easy. The whole assembly is held on by 4 bolts...

Remember to bench bleed the new master!!

Tommy

 

[78_Elky]

Are they easy to get to under the dash? Or is this a "pull the dash out" kind of project?
Jess

 

[LS6 Tommy]

You have to contort yourself a little bit to get to them, but you definitely do not need to remove the dash.

Tommy

 

[78_Elky]

Ok I'll take your word for it, I'm always one to save a few bucks if it means I just have to do the work myself. I've done so much on the car anyways I usually don't shy away from stuff like this but I figured I'd ask. My dad tried to replace the one on his C3 'vette and never got it in. So I was a little worried, but I'm smaller than him and the under dash area is a lot larger on my car

As long as I've got someones attention is there any good brand I should look at using? or any type I see there are two bore diameters listed for my car, is the larger one better?
Jess

 

[ElCaturbo]

All power brake masters for these cars were 15/16", the 7/8" one you might see listed is for manual brake apps.

If you want to save some wear & tear on your back, remove the seat. Much easier laying flat on the floor rather than bending yourself into a pretzel, and the seat's not much trouble to get out.

Disconnect the battery or else the brake lights will stay on while the booster is out. Remove the fiddly little clip on the brake pedal stud, slide the pushrod off to the side, remove the 4 nuts at the firewall (extensions and/or u-joint sockets are a big help for those). The rest is just brake lines & bleeding stuff.

 

[malijuice]

i just switched to manual brakes got one for sale with booster

 

[78_Elky]

that sounds pretty good. I had to replace my throttle cable this weekend and I got under there and saw all the bolts and pins/rods so I think I can get it. I also have a set of Camaro seats in the car so I know how to get them in and out in no time and it's a lot easier to get under the dash out with the seat out.
Jess