Is Stainless Sleeving of Brake Cylinders Worthwhile

[Henrius]

I want this brake job on my 1965 Fury to be its last. The car has always stopped great (almost too quickly) with the stock drum brakes, so I plan to keep them on the car.

But I got corrosion in the master and slave cylinders, with resultant leakage. I ordered rebuilt cylinders at the local parts store. But then I remembered vendors advertising boring and refitting with stainless steel sleeves to prevent future corrosion. One outfit that does this is RK sleeving.

Has anyone used services like this, and can give an opinion whether the conversion was worthwhile?

 

[pomonamissel]

the bore never rusts up to wreck the seals , but that doesn't not make todays seals last longer . but you must use them even if the car sits , you need to pump them a few times a month . to keep the seals sealing or they will leak .

 

[Davea Lux]

You can also convert your brake system to DOT 5 brake fluid. This holds up a lot better than the standard DOT 3 fluid. Parts can still rust, it just takes a lot longer. If you are planning to go this route, replace the master cylinder and all wheel cylinders and all rubber hoses.
As long as the cylinders are sleeved by a high quality shop, they are an acceptable alternative, but be careful as sleeved cylinders sometimes leak between the sleeve and the casting if they are not properly fitted.

Dave

 

[bajajoaquin]

How often do you drive it? Is it a daily driver? If so, regular cylinders won't be "forever" but should last a long time. If not, they won't be continually wiped with brake fluid and may pit or rust sooner.

You didn't say what the price difference is. Can you afford it? Have you spent a bunch of other money on the car recently and you're tired of spending? That matters.

When I rebuilt my Budd calipers, I was over budget on my car to make it a driver. I don't remember the prices, but it was like $100 to get regular rebuild, and $500 to get stainless. With some space, I wish I'd spent the $500, but at the time, I was deep enough into it and I was spending enough. So I don't fault my old self four years ago, but....

 

[GG-1]

A lot of work went into restoring this original assembly for GG, my 1967 Plymouth Fury VIP. A big thanks to master machinist Brad at Brake & Equipment Warehouse in Minneapolis. He did beautiful work boring and sleeving the cylinder in stainless, as well as media blasting and powder coating it to a stock finish, all for $120. The lid was later replated with a factory correct zinc by Brake Booster Dewey, who completely rebuilt and plated my brake booster. These guys are both very easy to deal with, call you back, and stand behind their work. Great guys and very reasonable. I rebuilt the innards of the master myself (once Brad sent it back) with Chrysler NOS OEM pistons, brass seats, check valves, springs and lid gasket. I installed these in the car about 1-1/2 ago and haven't had any issues, although I do need to drive the car a lot more!

 

[detmatt]

I had my Budd calipers sleeved and ended up with a leak on one of them twice after the rebuild but the place that did mine was local and stood behind their work. I did still have to remove it and drive it across town though and that did kinda suck but I’m glad I had them done.
Also happily running dot 5 now.

 

[detmatt]

A lot of work went into restoring this original assembly for GG, my 1967 Plymouth Fury VIP. A big thanks to master machinist Brad at Brake & Equipment Warehouse in Minneapolis. He did beautiful work boring and sleeving the cylinder in stainless, as well as media blasting and powder coating it to a stock finish, all for $120. The lid was later replated with a factory correct zinc by Brake Booster Dewey, who completely rebuilt and plated my brake booster. These guys are both very easy to deal with, call you back, and stand behind their work. Great guys and very reasonable. I rebuilt the innards of the master myself (once Brad sent it back) with Chrysler NOS OEM pistons, brass seats, check valves, springs and lid gasket. I installed these in the car about 1-1/2 ago and haven't had any issues, although I do need to drive the car a lot more!
View attachment 178979 View attachment 178980 View attachment 178978

GG that’s a thing of beauty and you really ought to drive that car more often...

 

[Henrius]

You can also convert your brake system to DOT 5 brake fluid. This holds up a lot better than the standard DOT 3 fluid. Parts can still rust, it just takes a lot longer. If you are planning to go this route, replace the master cylinder and all wheel cylinders and all rubber hoses.
As long as the cylinders are sleeved by a high quality shop, they are an acceptable alternative, but be careful as sleeved cylinders sometimes leak between the sleeve and the casting if they are not properly fitted.

Dave

Thanks. The car was converted to DOT 5 about 20 years ago but is still developed leaks and had rust in the master cylinder. But as others say, it might be because the car sat undriven for so long and the rubber deteriorated. Another mistake is I did not replace all the rubber hoses when I converted to silicone. I can also see that not driving the car more than once in a blue moon probably contributed to the deterioration.

 

[Henrius]

A lot of work went into restoring this original assembly for GG, my 1967 Plymouth Fury VIP. A big thanks to master machinist Brad at Brake & Equipment Warehouse in Minneapolis. He did beautiful work boring and sleeving the cylinder in stainless, as well as media blasting and powder coating it to a stock finish, all for $120. The lid was later replated with a factory correct zinc by Brake Booster Dewey, who completely rebuilt and plated my brake booster. These guys are both very easy to deal with, call you back, and stand behind their work. Great guys and very reasonable. I rebuilt the innards of the master myself (once Brad sent it back) with Chrysler NOS OEM pistons, brass seats, check valves, springs and lid gasket. I installed these in the car about 1-1/2 ago and haven't had any issues, although I do need to drive the car a lot more!
View attachment 178979 View attachment 178980 View attachment 178978

Wow, I usually marvel at the beauty of nicely finished engines, but your brake assembly takes the cake! don't recall this style of Master cylinder cover. My 1965 Fury has a single well master cylinder. So black was the original factory color?

Maybe I will let these guys do my job.