How To Change Clutch master cylinder

[Fast Guy]

If you have small hands you can do it without dropping the engine or removing the plenum..

I'd guess dropping the engine is easiest. Just support the weight, remove the bolts and lower very slowly/carefully.

Hardest bits I found was undoing the fluid pipe. A brake spanner or crows feet are a must. Getting the pipe to going to the new master was also pain too as it seemed to be at a slight angle, so took ages to start the thread.

 

[Godzilla]

just finished mine now replaced both master and slave (overnight parts from japan i mean boby) anyway took a little while longer than expected as the union bolt on the master started to round off so had to buy some needle nose mole grips , also as i was doing the lowering the engine way , i forgot about the front mound and was trying to undo the crossmember instead now my hands are done in , so started her after bleeding and straight into first and reverse just need to adjust biting point now but that can be done tomorrow as my back is also nackered, but couldnt and wouldnt have done it myself if it wasnt for this topic and you guys SO BIG THANKS ,

 

[Godzilla]

spoke too soon just still not fixed my problem

 

[watoga]

I just managed to complete this job! I replaced both the master and the slave cylinders, and to be honest, I'm feeling quite proud of myself! LOL!

There are two issues which seemed to take 95% of the 7-hour job. One was the annoyingly placed nut which holds the master cylinder to the bulkhead - this took an absolute age to try and get on due to a lack of room. The second was trying to screw the union back into the master cylinder. For some reason it didn't want to line up correctly and I was worried about bending the metal pipe, but *eventually* it finally caught!

Also, I managed to do this job without lowering/raising the engine. I simply removed all I possibly could around that area and that seemed to work well enough. The slave cylinder is easy-peasy, and so is re-bleeding the system.

Dave

 

[bevis]

wow...i've been running from this job for a good while now as it look a bit scary an a pain to do...but i think its time i finally give it a try....hope i dont get frustrated

 

[PobodY]

It's not that bad. Small hands (and a high tolerance to scratches and cuts) are a real benefit; I didn't take anything off to get mine out, but it's a slow and steady job to free the master cylinder.

 

[bevis]

well...i did it yesterday afternoon....took me about 3 hours tops....turned out WAYYY easier than i thought and more easier than some of these guys made it seem....didn have to trouble or remove anything apart from the cylinder:-D

 

[PobodY]

Slow and steady on those nuts? - Glad to hear you got it done without any real drama!

The problem I had was the union that steel line; it didn't want to come undone.

 

[bevis]

yep..slow and steady with a swivel joint....

my steel line came out easy but was a pain to catch thread wen it was time to get back in.

 

[Sketchy]

Nice write-up guys, thanks for the info. Anyone ever try doing the rebuild with master cylinder still in the car? Would clearing the pedal bracket and pedal out of the way give you enough room to remove the clip and plunger? Just a thought.

Edit- Just finished my CMC rebuild and realized it wouldn't be worth the trouble to leave it in the car. The long screw on the bottom that retains the plunger would be nearly impossible to get to. I found it easiest to take off the upper half of the intake manifold. It gave plenty of room to work with. I ended up using the rebuild kit for the 300zx CMC. Very slight differences, but works great.


Dave