Ms. Scarlet, the 1959 Mk 1 Austin-Healey Sprite, came home with a number of issues that needed to be addressed before she could hit the road. The seller had disclosed that the right rear brake cylinder was leaking and would need to be replaced. Once I got her home, I pulled ALL of the brake drums to give them a quick look-see. As it turns out, there were leaks at both of the rear brakes, but the front brakes looked leak free. The decision was made to replace ALL of the Bugeye's hydraulics including the master cylinder, lines and slave cylinders. The first step in this process is to remove the brake/clutch pedal box assembly, complete with the master cylinder and pedals.
The first step in the process was to dismantle the various parts (lines, pedals, master cylinder and pushrods. Once removed, everything got a dip in a parts cleaner bucket and then Evapo-Rust to soak off all of the surface rust before further, more aggressive, cleaning with the Dremel and brass wire wheels. With all of the clean-up complete, the next step was to remove the paint from the pedal box.
With the clean-up and paint stripping complete, it was time to move on to the fun part . . . painting! Etching primer for the bare metal, then filler primer for filling in the pitting and sanding lines and finally the topcoat of black paint.
I made the decision replace the original Lockheed master cylinder with a new one from Bugeyeguys. Rebuild kits were ordered to rebuild the original master cylinder as a winter project. Before installing the master cylinder, it was bench bled in an effort to minimize (as much as possible) adding air into the system.
Econobox Garage has done a nice job of showing many of the parts and steps involved in putting the brake/clutch pedal box back together. One of the interesting things about his videos is that he shows many of his mistakes as well as his tips. #wdydtyst #whenifixsomething #DIYCarMaintenance #bugeyesprite #msscarlet
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