Advice on manual style brake master cylinder on 70 Dart

[Al Bundy]

Hi,I just picked up a rebuilt master cylinder for my 1970 Dart with manual brakes. I noticed there is a little metal tab with a screw holding the piston in on the back of the rebuilt master cylinder and there is a replacement boot and a little rubber bushing included in a bag.
It appears I will have to pull the pushrod out of the old master cylinder and install it on the new one. Any advice on how to do this would be appreciated. Does it simply slide into the new master or does it somehow force fit and "lock" into the master cylinder? If so is there a trick to getting the rod out of the old and into the new one? I peeked under the dash of the car and can see old boot and an oval shaped metal bezel with two bolts and a bolt going through the push rod to the brake pedal. I plan on doing this tomorrow morning as the temperature is in the triple digits right now.

 

[AlV]

There is a thread on here somewhere that has many different approaches to removal.
When I did mine the method I used worked great.
After removing the master cylinder and draining it I used my floor jack to do the work.
I fed the rod through the floor jack and placed a big screwdriver through the pivot hole to hold it under the jack.
Then with the floor jack pad removed I used it to press up on the MC body and the rod came right out.

 

[Johnny Dart]

To remove:
Leave the MC bolted in.
Remove the brake light switch.
Pull back on the brake pedal.
The brake rod is now out of the MC.

To install:
Install new rubber grommet into MC.
Use a soccet the same size as the grommet, and pop it in.
Bolt MC to firewall.
Bring brake pedal with brake rod still attached up, and pop it into grommet.
Reinstall/adjust the brake swich.
Done.

 

[BillGrissom]

"Simply slide out?" No, per posts above. I would use Johnny's method next time. When I did it, I put the MC over vise jaws w/ rod hanging loosely down, slipped a socket extension rod thru the hole and beat on the extension w/ a hammer. It comes out as the old rubber bushing tears up. Do not "test fit" the rod w/ bushing. Once it goes in, it won't come out w/o destroying the bushing (how would I know?).

Most new manual MC's come a rod installed (see rockauto). I am surprised yours didn't. BTW, in my 64 Valiant, I used a newer aluminum MC for a 95-99 Breeze/Cirrus/Status (w/ ABS). The rod hole wound up at the same place as for my 64 (single pot) MC, after putting the new MC on a 2-4 adapter plate, thus my brake pedal sits the same place. The rod locked tight in the piston using the rubber bushing. Indeed a "test fit" caused me to waste the first bushing. I was even able to use the rubber dust boot on the new MC.

 

[66fyssh]

To remove:
Leave the MC bolted in.
Remove the brake light switch.
Pull back on the brake pedal.
The brake rod is now out of the MC.

To install:
Install new rubber grommet into MC.
Use a soccet the same size as the grommet, and pop it in.
Bolt MC to firewall.
Bring brake pedal with brake rod still attached up, and pop it into grommet.
Reinstall/adjust the brake swich.
Done.

▲▲▲▲▲
This is how I did mine. Worked like a charm!

 

[66fyssh]

Oh, and don't forget to bench bleed the master cylinder. I actually did mine after I bolted it in...but before installing lines. Just made it easier for me that way.