Sleeving brake cylinders...

[guywithacamera]

Going to try sleeving the brake cylinders in my antique car. Set-up is easy as the cylinders unbolt from the caliper. What is best method to secure sleeves into cylinder and keep it from leaking. Shop did two cylinders some years ago and one of the sleeves popped out! I'm sure I can do better. I understand there is a Locktite brand sleeve retainer but am concerned that the brake fluid will eat the stuff over time.

[loren]

I think I'd shrink them in.

[Rich_Carlstedt]

I just did a Triumph for my buddy, and used a stainless tube for the sleeve, in an Aluminum body.
With two lathes, the job is really easy, as you don't want to break down the cylinder when it is set up, if possible .
I bored the sleeve/bushing in lathe one . (about 2 3/8 long as I recall-Material was 6 inches long)
In lathe two, I mounted and bored the cylinder. When I finished the required bore I measured it with Telescopic gauge.
Lathe # 1- Now I Finished OD at Plus .001 using same mike as on TG above.
Parted the sleeve off, AFTER putting a little chamfer on the OD at the lead end.
Lathe#1. Made a Shouldered Aluminum plug about 1 inch long and .005 smaller then the bushing . The shoulder /flange is also smaller than the OD of the bushing, and the plug has a 1/2 " shank for mounting in the tailstock.
Froze the bushing and the plug in deep freeze fo 1/2 hour.
Lathe #2 Heated up the cylinder to about 200 degrees which gives about .0023 clearence with the frozen sleeve.
Took the sleeve out of the freezer and never touched it.
All handling by the plug.
Mounted the plug in the tailstock, and then slid the tailstock quickly and inserted the sleeve in a millisecond, into the cylinder.
The plug held the sleeve in proper alignment for quick work !
retracted the plug , faced the end, put a chamfer on the ID on the end to amtch the original specs.

The trouble with a one lathe job is that you have to make the sleeve first, and that means dead nuts boring.
As a Principle, Turning OD's is much easier to hit numbers, so if it can be done after(2 Lathes) its easier.
The .001 shrink fit is equal in strength to a .002/.003 press fit FYI

If you are doing it in a Cast Iron Body, you need to heat to 350 degrees,
inorder to achieve a .001 clearance on the oversize sleeve, and don't go more than that becausse you may crack the cast Iron body

[icemaker]

I agree with the idea of shrinking them in. However, it doesn't require two lathes, only two chucks. Since the cylinder is usually a casting and somewhat irregular, use the four jaw to hold it. Use the three jaw to hold and machine the sleeve. Of course, this assumes you have both a four jaw and a three jaw. But the chances of this are better than the probability of having two lathes [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif"%20alt="[/img].

The other option is to bore the cylinder on the mill (again assumes a well equipped shop).

Bill

[sandman2234]

First question is what kind of antique car are you talking about?
I considered having it done (many years ago) to my brake calipers but decided to just purchase the calipers already sleeved with S/S. Making 16 sleeves and boring 16 holes just didn't sound like somthing I wanted to do for what they charged to do it, with a lifetime guaruntee. Place in South Florida call VETTEBRAKES sold them to me back in 1980 and I have never had any trouble with them . I have considered doing the master cylinder since it is only one hole and one sleeve but getting the ports just right could be a trick.
Good luck with yours, and if it is a vette, then you ought to consider buying them instead.
David from jax

[DIX]

I'll tell you how it's done for real. My father ran a large automotive repair operation with a machine shop from 1930 until 1968. One of the things done there was refurbishing brake cylinders- master and wheel types. What they did was bore the old cylinder out and press in a sleeve made from stainless steel.
The sleeve was a piece of stainless steel tube. It was machined after pressing to the required size for the cylinder. Nothing held the sleeve in other than the interference fit between it and the cylinder. They used a hydraulic press to cram it in. That was about as permanent a fix as anything I've ever seen. He went on to produce them for NAPA.

I hope that helps some.
Dick

[guywithacamera]

I do have access to a shop with two lathes. How did you heat up the cylinder
while it was still in the chuck?
I'm looking into getting some liquid nitrogen to REALLY shrink the sleeves.
I used to watch the machinist in my old Air Force Squadron do this to the
sleeves that went into bomb rack pylon supports on the F-18. They had to be
drilled out and they would support a wing pylon and it's weapons under flight loads,...now THAT's tight! I have a friend in the local car club who works at
the physics department of the local university.

[Rich_Carlstedt]

Bill
Outstanding suggestion ! I really like your comment
Now lets see, I have 2 Lathes and 7 chucks, that means......Just kidding.

[Rich_Carlstedt]

I heated it with a propne torch.
That liquid nitrogen is neat stuff, but a little too expensive for my work, and offers a hazard of damaging my decrepid body.

[pgrey]

I'd like to sleeve my master cylinder to compensate for some different brake calipers I put on my car.

Do you know of a source for MC seals listed by size and type, not by application (although an apllication reference or cross reference would help)?

Peter

[gmacoffline]

heating : indoors -you can use either boiling water or a heat gun to heat the parts in the lathe.


in a vented area, you can use a torch to heat it evenly- set at a slow speed and set the torch up to blow the heat from bottom to top. the rotation will heat the part evenly.

cooling:
if you dont like the expense and hazards of nitrogen, you can use a dry ice and alcohol mix. chip the ice and mix with ethanol or methanol and use this liquid for a bath for the part, or a fill for a solid space. this can get you down to - 108F or a little more. you need rather pure alcohol to get to the lower temps, normal alcohol still has some water in it. you can buy stuff at the industrial supply house or possibly the liquor store that may be fairly pure. dry ice is available at many meat and fish supply houses and food packaging firms. most wholesale ice suppliers can get it also.

[loren]

The CarQuest in my town has them listed in the books, I assume Napa would too. Sometimes they have a ditty box with WC and sometimes MC cups in various sizes.