Bingster

Well, I got a pretty good sell job from the guy at Mopar Pro about all of the testing his cylinders go through and such. Something like 400 check points. He said it was a waste of time to try and rebuild old cylinders, and when I said that the China-made cylinders get a bad rap, he said that he did the engineering of the cylinders he sells. $150 for all four fronts. I have no idea if he gets his made overseas.

I've pretty much been persuaded to buy new brake cylinders for my '47 DeSoto. Anybody buy them from Mopar Pro?

That's what I was thinking!

I finally got one of the brake cylinders from my '47 DeSoto cleaned up, and managed to get the piston, rubber cup and spring out after a lot of WD40 Rust Penetrant, a heat gun, and tapping. In the photo you can see that the piston is a two-piece affair. The bottom section serves as the spring seat for the rubber cup. I have no idea where I could get a replacement piston of this type, and I have spent a lot of time online looking. I think that these cylinders had recently been rebuilt before I bought the car ten years ago because the rubber boot is in excellent condition. The front of the red piston has some . . . what? Electrolysis? Not too bad. Can be cleaned up. And as I understand it, the front part of the piston where it makes contact with the brake shoe pin doesn't need to prevent oil front seeping out of the cylinder. The rubber cup behind it does that job. And so, if the front of the piston isn't perfect it doesn't matter because all it has to do is move freely in the cylinder. Right? So there is only air space between the piston and the rubber cup. I had a close-up of the piston front but the image size would not load. Too big. At any rate, if anybody knows where I can get pistons like this other than another used cylinder please let me know. Cylinder rebuild kits don't come with a piston. I have to wonder if White Post and such have new pistons available when they re-sleeve these old cylinders. If anybody out there who has a Desoto S-11 and has tossed their old cylinders or they're sitting somewhere in the shop gathering dust I'd be interested in getting them just for the pistons in them.

Their definitely is something to be said for the patina of an old car not repainted. You can just see years on the car from another era. I like mine the way it looks when I bought it, but it's too tempting to put it back in factory paint. I was thinking about a semi-gloss just to cut the sheen. Maybe that's a bit silly. But I really like your car!

Thanks. I was looking at some contemporary cylinders online and they seem sturdy enough - it's a pretty simple concept - but I've heard mixed results about their being made in China. Somebody (sorry) gave me a good idea to buy new and re-sleeve the old later, but the old castings look as though they could survive an atomic blast. They'd melt of course, but they are quite beefy compared to the new. I haven't found any new pistons, however, online. The rubber part and the springs yes, but no pistons. I did get another tip on here to find the inside diameter spec of the cylinder and see how much you can hone. The ID is 1 1/8, and the parts book showed a "standard" width piston and another at .010. This would allow however many hones between "Standard" and .010. So it doesn't look as thought my cylinders have been honed, at least not much.

So I was cleaning up my 1947 front Lockeed brake cylinders with the intent to rebuild them. As I was peeking into the "hose holes" opposite the bleeder valves, I discovered something that really had me puzzled for awhile. I almost tossed them. Maybe I still will, but I'm wanting another opinion about this. On two of the cylinders, that hole next to the bleeder valve was threaded and had a hole in the bottom to let the oil pass to the back of the piston and on to the bottom cylinder. Fine. The other two cylinders had these same holes next to the bleeder valve, but the bottoms of these holes were solid casting. No threads, no oil holes. I thought that rust must have plugged these holes solid, but probing with a small screwdriver proved that there never were holes drilled. It really was a solid bottom. I had just assumed that all four cylinders - with the exception of their being an upper left and upper right - were identical in design. So I must have two bum cylinders. Off I go to Rock Auto or Bernbaum. But after staring at a parts book and service manual trying to figure out their oil path, it suddenly hit me: maybe that blocked up hole on each of the two cylinders was designed to be blocked, and served as the "dead end" of the oil path between the upper and lower cylinders. There wasn't any need to pass oil through the bottom cylinder to any other parts like the uppers did. Would that be an accurate assessment?

I was cleaning up my brake cylinders for my '47 DeSoto and noticed the inside of the cylinder had some pitting near the end of the opening. I know that re-sleeving would be the ideal fix, but if that isn't in the game I wanted to see if I could rebuild these. Castings are the real deal. But how much can you hone before the inside diameter gets too wide to make a good fit with the piston? And are the pistons in the rebuild kits all the same diameter? Is there some standard diameter that fits all cylinders? Based on what? The original cylinders?

Thanks. I thought that it was probably a Permatex one.

What would be the best sealer for the fuel pump to block gasket?

I second that. I would be thrilled if mine turns out that way.

Thanks 9 Foot Box! That's great.

Where'd you get the carb rebuilt and how much?

How much would it cost to have a headliner done?

I was going to mention that about not cutting those gaskets.

Thanks, Rich.

I do have the parts catalog and the shop manual they cover these brakes pretty thoroughly. I did a quick search in Deception Pass inventory with the book's part numbers and they didn't have them. Making my own is a good idea. I've had to do this with cork washers. Maybe Marc or others who have a 1947-49 S-11 can tell me what they used.

Anybody know where I can find this S-11 front brake gasket and maybe a new retainer?

Can you blast the dirt and grime off the outside of the cylinder or does that endanger grit getting into the bore and piston? My cylinders don't have that crap inside them covering the piston. The red piston is still clean. The car had been running not long before I bought it. I have no idea if they are China pistons or not. The inside of the brake fluid lines where they screw into the cylinder do have a rusty look to them. Will that get into the bore even with a cleaning in solvent? Time vs. $$$. But there is a point where it's a toss up to rebuild or buy new. Is Dorman made in China?

Thanks Danger.

I'd be comfortable with everything you said up until "with gas in it!!"

It's all about $$$. I don't mind the time if the tank is basically sound.

I've seen various methods on YouTube for cleaning out fuel tanks interiors: Vinegar, PR-15 kit, etc. Then the bolts and nuts to shake around. I'm not certain mine can be restored. I haven't taken it off yet. But I rebuilt the pump and I agree that the whole fuel system should be replaced.

That's a horrible thing to do, copy somebody's invention and not give them at least a royalty. It's also not very cool to me if Andy B. knew about this and still bought them from MoparPro. The only bright side to this is that sales of the tool is relativity small compared to a Pet Rock or Hula-Hoop or something like that. That dates me. Although you wouldn't think you could patent a rock.

Be sure to watch their videos. I posted one on the other thread.