The cover of the master cylinder in a 71 B Body, power disk brakes, build date May 71, did it have anything stamped on the cover as to which type of fluids to use ??
Also, what was the correct finish.

I pulled mine today, I have the correct master cylinder cast number, the cover gasket is the right number but I'm not sure the cover is correct.

Thanks for the help

There was a great article on master cylinders in the April 05 issuse of Mopar Action. If I can put my hands on it, I'll see if I can find the answer to your question.

I am not 100% certain on that, but I believe the caps on that master cylinder would have been unmarked. The same cap was was used on '70 disc brake E bodies and was marked with instructions to use SAE J1703 brake fluid, I've seen NOS '70 style MC's with date codes into late '71 or early '72 that had the callout, after that they were unmarked. It is possible that '71's through a certain date had that callout but I have looked at a number of them and never seen one with any markings.
As for the finish, my research indicates that starting in '71 they changed from painting the entire master cylinder assembly black, to using some sort of a gunmetal gray phosphate type coating as shown in this picture of an NOS one.

good time for this to come up - a friend of mine just hooked me up with a m/c for my car that he picked up with one for his - good looking out on his part (thanks Steve !) , casting # 3461187 on bottom. The cover is unstamped - looks original - also has a metal tag attached to the bail wire stamped 0111 (date I'm assuming) 4351A (vendor) and a large 15 (unsure). I was going to ask who is reputable to clean up and rebuild so as I'd get this one back and not some junk - I want this one back - thanks - Joe

Hey Joe can you provide pictures of that tag. Also what finish is the cap.
I have the same casting number.
thanks Norm

I'm still trying to find that article someone mentioned in Mopar Action.

I've used Brake and Equipment warehouse in Minneapolis a number of times to sleeve and rebuild vintage master cylinders for me and have always been happy with the results.

here's the tag

I took down the finish on my cap and here's what I think how its finished.

bare steel
gray primer or some type of coating
gold dichromate
rust

Are there any recognizable finishes on the underside of the cap? Are you sure yours is original issue?

No I'm not 100% sure this is the original piece other than the cap had this rubber still in it. And the underside has no sign of gold dichromate. Just the grey phosphate or primer shows. Strange. How do they apply that gold dichromate anyhow?

on steve juliano s 71 cuda the master cylinder cover
lid say use only sae j1703 brake fluid the service lids do not

opps the 71 440 6bbl cuda rag top red one

here's what I've found on 71Bs FWIW:

1. HEMI cars did still have black painted MCs (the black 10K mile HEMI runner is a good example)

2. My NOS disk brake MC has a gray phosphate lid with no writing and a metal tag with the 1176 number, a Mfr #, and PWR stamped on it. Date on the box is 72

3. I've only found one magazine road test from back in the day of a disk brake car that has a photo of the engine compartment showing the MC. It's a black and white photo, but the MC appears to be gray phosphate. Definitely not gold, and not painted black.

4. The FE5 SSP 383 car has what appears to be a gray phosphate lid. I don't recall if it had printing on it.

5. Every other "survivor" car I've seen has a gold lid. But these are not necessarily original owner cars...so who knows what's happened over the last 30+ years.

6. the MA article states that all MCs up through 74 were painted black. I believe that is NOT TRUE.

thanks everyone for your input. Evidence tends to support the all grey phosphate finish with no stampings. I did read the MA article that was sent to me and there seems to be some conflicting statements. I do however need to find me one of those tags for my M/C.

Thanks again