Monday, September 29, 2008

Step 2: Master Cylinder & Hydrobooster


Step 2 in the teardown phase is removing the master cylinder and brake hydrobooster. I think the manual is pretty lacking on this step. After a frustrating time trying to get the brake lines disconnected, I decided to wait for a day. In the meantime I did a little research - and it seems like everyone is cutting the brake lines instead of unscrewing them. Sounds like a GREAT plan to me - they are inaccessible to unbolt.

Tom came over after work today to help me tackle this step and after doing a few other cleanup things like draining the power steering fluid and diagramming the brake lines, we were ready to go. So we cut the lines and drained the fluid and got to work. While Tom removed the hydraulic lines, I worked on unbolting the Hydrobooster from behind the brake pedal. This was a horrible place to work because there is just no room - either to fit your body in or maneuver tools.


After about 20 minutes of snaking around under the steering wheel (and regaining feeling in my arms) the bolts were out and we were able to angle the assembly enough to disconnect the other lines and made 2 final brake line cuts to remove the whole thing. It was a major pain in the but, but was EXTREMELY satisfying to have a successful finish. After several days of frustration, this was a good positive milestone.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Hydrobooster? What about the hydrospanner?

Chris said...

Hahaha, I really could have used a hydrospanner to remove the hydrobooster. I'm sure it would have helped.

Unknown said...

Once again I remind you that you have chosen poorly in trying to build a Cobra:

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/cto/859041911.html

Chris said...

WOWEE! You may have a point there, but I THINK I'll survive, assuming Factory Five doesn't tank during this economic upheaval. That would straight suck.