Brake Cylinder Sleeves

John,  At the gigantic (and I am not exaggerating - something like 1,600
vendors and 250,000 attendees) Hershey car show, Bob Oates and I were
treated to a lecture on the advantages of brass linings for brake cylinders
by the  White Post  Restorations people.  Claims were made that brass,
being softer than SS, allows a better seal with the rubber.  Sounded
convincing to me -- and they handed out delicious Virginia apples to
everyone.  Now let's hear the other side -- anyone for stainless steel? -
Carl Hanson, '51 XK120 FHC

Re: Stainless I lean toward stainless units (the whole thing) because the
whole unit won't rust, which means less potential problem with connections
and bleeders. You don't get that with a brass or stainless liner only.
Suspect, though, that real differences in function or wear on the rubber
parts are so slight as to be meaningless. I have stainless calipers on Mk
II but the 120 cylinders are new (and equally costly) Girling standard
unlined, as stainless cylinders for 120 were not available at the time I
bought the new cylinders (maybe still not available?). I did not want to go
with liners, but had no compelling reason not to. I will say that the old
cylinders had been relined in brass by "a well known firm specializing in
relining with brass" who had relined one rear cylinder and reassembled it
with some wrong parts, and no rubber seal on the emergency brake piston.
The prior owner of my car wondered why the brass linings didn't cure the
braking problems! Maybe not the fault of the rebuilder, but it would have
been pretty obvious to anyone thinking while they worked. The 120 does have
a stainless tandem master cylinder, again on the basic premise that I want
it to last longer than I do. Perhaps the simplest way to find out more
about stainless is to go to http://pages.prodigy.com/MO/jag/Main.html
which is the site for Hye-Dra-Cyl. They have some good FAQ type info on the
site. Some months ago I asked them if they are going to make stainless
cylinders for the 120 and the answer was that they did not anticipate the
demand being sufficient, but could change their mind if demand surfaces.
They do have stainless calipers for XK 150. - D. Rowley, 120 FHC

If you have any questions or comments send e-mail to: ted@jag-lovers.org
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