1955 Ford Zephyr. Master cylinder conversion Part 1.

[Mart]

My friend Geoff has two 1955 Zephyrs. This covers a job we did on the blue one. He thought there might be a problem with the brakes so we investigated. It needed new seals on one wheel. We fixed that, but couldn't bleed the brakes. These Zephyrs are notorious for brake bleeding problems. We decided to do a home brew conversion to more modern (late 1950s!) master cylinders. Follow along as we design and build a couple of adaptors and get it all back up and running. For the sake of all of our sanity I have left out the first 6 hours of unsuccessful bleeding footage. I hope you enjoy the video. Be sure to look out for part 2.

https://youtu.be/j_33rMPJTuI

[mercman from oz]

https://youtu.be/j_33rMPJTuI

[mk2Colorado]

I've spent many hours bleeding the brakes on a couple of mk2 Zephyrs. About to do it again pretty soon.

[KiWinUS]

Originally Posted by mk2Colorado

I've spent many hours bleeding the brakes on a couple of mk2 Zephyrs. About to do it again pretty soon.

Yes they are very difficult. Way back when I was an apprentice I worked at GM garage and after 2 days I still couldn’t get an acceptable pedal so walked around to the Ford dealer and talked with shop Forman. He say oh it’s easy. With shoes off front backing plates unbolt them from upright. Then rotate so as to get the last wheel cylinder is up with piston bore vertical pop piston and seal out let fluid run until overflowing. Now re-install seal and piston. Now turn an do same to other wheel cylinder. Bolt backing plate back on install shoes and drum. Now the other front. I rock hard pedal in 30 minutes. Good luck. Feel free to ask any questions.

[mk2Colorado]

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Originally Posted by KiWinUS

Yes they are very difficult. Way back when I was an apprentice I worked at GM garage and after 2 days I still couldn’t get an acceptable pedal so walked around to the Ford dealer and talked with shop Forman. He say oh it’s easy. With shoes off front backing plates unbolt them from upright. Then rotate so as to get the last wheel cylinder is up with piston bore vertical pop piston and seal out let fluid run until overflowing. Now re-install seal and piston. Now turn an do same to other wheel cylinder. Bolt backing plate back on install shoes and drum. Now the other front. I rock hard pedal in 30 minutes. Good luck. Feel free to ask any questions.

Thank you! One of the other guys on here has been looking at them with me & trouble-shooting one or two things that would hopefully be the fix vs bleeding them. This will be worth looking at if it has to come down to that. Can't count how many hours I've spent helping my stepdad bleed them. After the first 2 times I'd usually bring a book to read while holding & pumping the brakes.