slave cylinder defects

[tomtom72]

Hi Guys,

I just want to pass this on for info that owners may want to keep in mind if you have to r&r hydrulic parts on the clutch system. I learned from another menber about bad bores and how they destroy the piston O-ring... well I found another defect to look out for....metal shards.

I've gone thru a few slave + master combos lately. I would put in a set and a few days would go by and the fresh fluid would be black & my clutch would not get full motion. I took apart two slaves that I bought from chevy and found metal from the spring in the cylinder and a chewed up O-ring. I don't know that it's a direct cause and effect but the bores in each case were ding free. I'm gonna pull out the aftermarket one I just put in & take it apart to see if there is any metal in that slave also because the fluid turned black again. I'll edit this with the results when I get to removing the aftermarket slave & master I just put in.

Oh, this may be useful...Raybestos and Wagner are the aftermarket brands I just put in and the Raybestos slave looks just like the Chevy part.

:cheers:
Tom

[Jeffvette]

The other option if you have some spare cash is to step up to the Mcleod unit.

[tomtom72]

Hi Jeff, Those guys make replacemant slaves & masters for the ZR-1? I'll do a search for Mcleod, thanks!

:cheers:
Tom

[Tom]

The fluid, either brake fluid or the specific Chevy clutch fluid, will turn dark/black over time even with good master and slave cylinders just from temperature and having rubber components in contact with the fluid. Any wear particles generated just add to the fluid color change.

I have also learned to pull the caps off of new universals and inspect the inside of the caps and the grease passages to ensure there is no metal debris left over from the machining operations.

[tomtom72]

Yes I do understand that the fluid will darken with age from moisture absorbtion. My fluid was turning black with visible particles in a matter of a day or two. I guess I have a lot to learn about parts. I mean expecting to have defects I guess is something that I have to train myself to anticipate from now on. I have to say that since there was 25 yrs between vettes I'm out of the loop. I never wrenched much on my DD's except for the basics. My ZR-1 is a bit different for me. It's just like my C3...I didn't trust many people to work on either car. Mainly because some things are just not easy to do on a vette & I don't want to pay for a job where "it's good enough, send it out!" is the result of the car being difficult to work on.

Guess I just have to be less trusting of parts I buy from now on. Kind of a pia!:(

[tomtom72]

I just finished an e-mail exchange with Mr Boudreau at ZR51Performance, aka zfdoc. I learned that as a repair shop he had some interesting observations from his shop's experience with C4 hydraulic parts.

What shocked me was that he said he has had 20% to 30% out of the box un-usable parts. He further said that in a 30 to 60 day time frame after replacement of slave & master combos that a 40% failure rate of the slave or master or both was observed.

Found out another disturbing tid bit...some of the slaves were assembled with the piston seal on backwards....got that from Mr. B also!

That info is discouraging.

[tomtom72]

Okay, I was given the name of a place in Long Island, New York that specializes in remanufacturing your bad masters and slaves. Apple Hydraulics in Calverton New York, 1-800-883-7753, www.applehydraulics.com.

They do a brass sleeve job on the OEM stuff. I'll post up the results when I get my stuff back.

Tom