I recently replaced my clutch hydraulics with new parts and all was good until I actually started to drive the car. In less than 200 miles, the new equipment was toast. Bent rod on the slave and possible a slight bend to the master. Left me stranded on the side of the highway and I had to call a tow. Both parts made in China and junk. Word of advice- Don't trust these new parts and get the originals rebuilt.

I sourced a slave refurbished by power torque systems and a NOS master that I'll be installing this weekend. Should last another 25 years.

I'll take a picture of the the bent rod when I get a chance. Live and learn.

 

Do you have a stock clutch or a stronger aftermarket clutch?

Good info, I find some china stuff is good and some junk.

 

Good parts source. Getting the rod installed properly is sometimes a challenge...take your time. The China parts are junk!

 

It's a stock clutch. The rod looks like a boomerang so there's probably not much heat treating going on in China.

 

Mine was rebuilt by PO. I do not check the level on a regular basis due to the location. Out of site, out of mind. I know that mine "uses" a lil fluid over time and it has gotten low a couple of time. I have a heavy duty clutch, maybe mine gets more usage. Gonna go check the level right now ...
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I had an interesting day today- Get a load of this====

Preface
So I get the power systems slave, but the OEM master sale fell though. I had already installed a brand new duralast master from Autozone so I just left that in. The other master with 100 miles from ebay was on the workbench.

So bleeding didn't go well and I kept seeing bubbles forming in the master to the point where it looked like a hot tub. I took the flashlight to the pedal area and say the C clip came off along with a washer and slid down the shaft to the pedal. What a piece of crap with 0% QC.

So off came that part and the ebay master went on. Another bleed, but now pressure was holding.

Now reinstall the battery--it's dead. Go to the store and get a new AC delco.

Install the battery. Not go to start- no cranking. VATS was already disabled on my car so I figured it's the clutch interrupt. When the slave out went out at full pressure it really shocked the clutch system so it may have broken the switch. Anyway I soldered the purple and yellow/bk stripe wires together to bypass the switch and heat-shrinked the joint. Got the rest of it together and she's running.

Only took me all day to do it, but I'm happy it's over and done with.

I'm sitting on 1 Chinese slave cylinder with less than 100 miles that's broken as well as an Autozone clutch master cylinder with 0 miles that's broken. Both are going back. OEM ran in the car for 35000 miles and 24 years. OEM was made by TRW with exacting standards by Americans. The Chinese parts makers with their junk put these quality parts vendors out of business.

 

Does anyone make a high quality rebuild kit? Or are some parts worn and can not be rebuilt?
I rebuilt the calipers on a C3 using a small honer and fine grit sandpaper, turned out fine.
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I can't speak to a rebuild kit, but I will say I had to have the master and slave replaced on my 86 right after I bought it last summer. My mechanic got the parts from NAPA and it's held up just fine so far.
It was a bear to get the air bled out, but once that was done it's worked well ever since.

 

I take it the eBay parts were no-names? I'm looking at parts sources for clutch hydraulics and see Rock Auto sells Centric ($30), Dorman ($39) and Wagner ($53) masters. The slaves run $52 (Centric) to $82 (Sachs).

 

If it's not the steel body stock units, use caution. The part was made by Centric, but most of the other retailers will re brand these parts since the same stock photo is being used all over the place.

They can be identified by the large rough cast aluminum body on the master and slave. The stock is a smooth steel body. Problems range from poorly machined interior cylinders, burs, lack of heat treatment, and incorrectly installed seals. The auto zone master cylinder I has didn't even have the "C" clip secured and all the seals came out.

These guys can rebuild the stock units:
http://www.powertorquesystems.com/Co...eCorePrgrm.htm

 

Thanks for the info.

 

If you HAVE to get a aftermarket slave, try to re-use the stock rod if possible.

 

One more thing...get the stainless braided hose from Corvette central. The rubber from the stock one is starting to break down and the rubber particles makes the seals wear out faster.

 

I looked at the hose on my '95 and it is tube at the master and slave ends and appears to be braided stainless in between. I can inspect it all once I get the parts out.

 

Used powertorque, very satisfied.

 

No doubt, but I don't have over $300 to lay out just for parts.

 

I got a slave from NAPA. It was made in Taiwan and is a cast piece. One solid chunk of steel with a very stout crinkle coating on it.

I installed this slave in the summer of 2009, it's been there since, some 30k miles and 5 years and has only been topped off a couple of times.

As an aside, GM had a **** load of problems with the slaves... first off, there was a large batch with the main seal was installed BACKWARDS. They would hold pressure for maybe 1500 miles and then blow out.

The second problem was that the master/hose/slave came as single pre-bled unit. They were vacuum sealed, but over time, they still absorbed moisture through the cardboard backing. This caused rust inside the cylinder and that tore up the seal some more.

In summary, I highly recommend the NAPA slave.

As for bleeding them, get a hand vacuum pump and force it down, or, a Phoenix Injector to force the fluid UP from the slave.

Bench bleeding is a pain...

 

Thanks for the info Bogus. I have the NAPA part on order and I'll install it tomorrow.

I have had luck using the mighty vac and sucking the air from the upper cup. It's tricky but it can be done. A guy with a Camaro showed it on youtube.

 

Really easy & super inexpensive: A true win/win. Thanks for posting the video. I know on one a bike I used to own I had problems bleeding the brakes. I had taped the brake lever to the handlebar and let it sit overnight and the air eventually came up.

I found a reasonable source for AN hose fittings and parts, not sure on the vendor policy here so I won't post the link. It looks like for about $40 shipped you could buy 2x AN4 x 12mm x 1.0 fittings, 1 x AN4 45 degree PTFE (Teflon lined braided hose) hose end, 1 x 90 degree hose end, and 3 feet of PTFE hose. I still have some AN4 hose left over from another project and may give that a try if the hose on the car is in bad shape.

 

I used the reverse bleeding method when I did mine, a little over 5 minutes from start to finish, perfect pressure! wish I'd known about it years ago, when I think how many pints of fluid I've wasted over the years on various cars doing it the conventional way!