280i master cylinder

[jforrester42]

During the 40 mile trip to have my new top(hood) installed my brakes failed. Pedal goes almost to floor with limited stopping power. I suspect the master cylinder as there is no fluid loss and the brakes were fine before starting the trip. Question is: Is the master cylinder the same as a Triumph TR7? Catalog photos look the same from Moss Motors and Victoria British. My car is a late Series one, 1985. The Wedge parts list here on Piston Heads list it as a Cortina unit, is it possible Ford and Triumph used the same cylinder?
Thanks for any help,
John

[GV]

The BMC is from a Ford Cortina MK4 & 5. Readily available on FBay. If you want peace of mind go for a new BMC and forget the seal kits also on offer.

[wild rover]

Have you checked that none of the calipers are sticking, also has the brake fluid been changed recently. Thinking of possible brake fade. I can confirm the mc is a ford part

[wild rover]

Sorry I should have said the mc for a 350/390 is ford.

[jforrester42]

The master cylinder on my USA 280i is in fact the same as a TR7 making it much more available in the states. When I went back to the upholstery shop to pick up the car the brakes were working! I still trailer-ed the car home in case the brakes failed again. The comment about possibly having a stuck caliper overheating and causing the problem seems to fit. There is a fresh thick coating of brake dust on one front wheel so I think I will start investigating there first. It would see odd for a failed master cylinder to start working the next day.

The top (hood) sure improves the look of the car. The next search is for proper side window weather seals.

Thanks for the advice,
John

[GBinUSA]

Hi John,

I have a 86' 280i S2, had master cylinder and caliper issues earlier this year. My MC is the Cortina one, which I rebuilt. I had a sticking front caliper causing a pull to the right. Pretty much all the rebuilt over the counter calipers are copies of the Girling unit. I had zero luck getting any rebuilt ones, so opted to rebuild the original ones. The issue with mine was pitted piston surfaces. You can get the pistons from RockAuto for around $14 each. Do a search for the Delorean DMC, they too used the Granada Mk2 front brakes. I ordered seal kits from them too, but these were the wrong size. Suggest buying the seals from Bill at Dominion or out of the UK from

http://www.brakesint.co.uk/

Best,

Gavin

[RCK974X]

Actually those calipers were used on a few models in UK, they are Girling M16, Fords and (as you say) on some later Triumphs and Leyland stuff.

And again, as above, Master cyl can be replaced with any dual circuit type, as long as you stay with the 22mm (I think that's right) piston size it should give same pedal pressure....

[jforrester42]

Ordered the parts today to rebuild the front calipers and master cylinder, have hopes that I can avoid getting into the rears!
John

[TVRleigh_BBWR]

jforrester42 said:

Ordered the parts today to rebuild the front calipers and master cylinder, have hopes that I can avoid getting into the rears!
John

From my experience the rears are more problematic than the front, so its worth doing them while you have it all apart, they are from Jaguars so parts should be easy to get.

[benebob]

Food for thought. The front calipers are the same as a 76 Mercury Capri. I bought remaned ones from Amazon a few years back for... cough $32 for the pair. Sorry, don't get on here much wish I had seen your post earlier.

[Grady]

jforrester42 said:

Ordered the parts today to rebuild the front calipers and master cylinder, have hopes that I can avoid getting into the rears!
John

But if you have to do the rears, O'Reilly's has remanufactured calipers for under $60 each. Grady

[jforrester42]

Local O'Reillys was able to turn the disks. Two other places could not do them due to the size and depth of the hub mounting part. The caliper rebuild was less expensive than I expected with a kit (TR-6) from Moss Motors that included the rubber kit and pistons for less than $27. The pistons looked very good though marked"made in China". Tried to hone the master cylinder but two spots were to deeply pitted so new MC (TR-7) on the way from Bill at Dominion spares.
Are rebuilt rear calipers (Jaguar) only $60?
Thanks again for all the advice,
John

[TVRleigh_BBWR]

jforrester42 said:

Are rebuilt rear calipers (Jaguar) only $60?
Thanks again for all the advice,
John

in the UK they are about $200 each or $150 exchange, if you can get them for $60 in the USA that's a good price.

[Grady]

Now $62.99 (plus a $45.00 core charge). It's a warehouse part so it take a couple hours to get them in the store.

As I mentioned before, you may want to just cut the differential crossover pipe; I finally cut mine as I couldn't break the flare nuts loose in situ and was stripping them even with a proper wrench. I found I couldn't get it remade over the weekend as no one had the correct tube flare tool. I ordered a new Jag one ($10 IIRC) from someone on the Internet (who also wanted $150+ per rebuilt caliper). Grady

[Grady]

Grady said:

Now $62.99 (plus a $45.00 core charge). It's a warehouse part so it take a couple hours to get them in the store.

As I mentioned before, if you don't drop the rear cage, you may want to just cut the differential crossover pipe; I finally cut mine as I couldn't break the flare nuts loose in situ and was stripping them even with a proper wrench. I found I couldn't get it remade over the weekend as no one had the correct tube flare tool. I ordered a new Jag one ($10 IIRC) from someone on the Internet (who also wanted $150+ per rebuilt caliper). Grady