Re: [Chrysler300] Help

[SADuggan@xxxx]

Phil and All,

This definitely seems to be a problem with your master cylinder. When the 
wheel cylinders leak you can always see the problem, but when the master 
fails you can't always tell.

Make sure you get the proper replacement for your master cylinder. When I got 
my 62 the booster was out. In parts books at the Pep Boy or some such place 
that the listing for master cylinders listed 60-66 as the same part. I went 
to the junk yard and pulled a booster and a master cylinder out of a 63 
Chrysler. After installing them in my car and bleeding the brakes I seemed to 
have excessive pedal travel. The brakes worked great and the booster really 
helped, but I didn't like the pedal travel, gave me the feeling of impending 
failure. I must have bleed the brakes 10 times trying to bring that pedal up, 
to no avail. Finally I think I just accepted it.

A few months ago I decided to rebuild my front end. I brought it to a local 
shop that has experience with Chryslers. In fact there was a 69 300 in one of 
the bays when I pulled up. I had decided to upgrade my brake from the 62 
style to the 63-64 style. Before he started the work he called me and told me 
that I would probably have to change my master cylinder. According to his 
books the master cylinder on the 62 Chrysler had a bore of 1" and the 63-64 
master cylinder had a bore of 15/16". Finally I had found my problem, a loss 
of a 1/16" had caused my pedal to travel farther. Needless to say with the 
new setup my brakes work great and the pedal travel is perfect.

Kind of a long drawn out story to say "make sure and get the right part and 
by the way that part has a bore of 15/16"." I hope the info is useful to 
someone. There is nothing more frustrating than doing something over and over 
with no results. Never trust low end auto part store catalogs.

Sean Duggan
Los Angeles