I want to use an aluminum master cylinder (MC) on my 1964 Dodge B body (street/strip) with manual drum brakes.

One of the problems I'm running into is some of the newer two bolt MC are made in both cast iron and aluminum(different manufacturers).

Anyone use Wagner master cylinder MC98895. It's made of aluminum but I don't know if it can be used for manual brakes. I can't find any information that it can be used with manual brakes. In other words, does it have the recess for the rubber push rod retainer.

How about Dorman MC98894? It's made in both cast iron and aluminum. Rock Auto apparently distiguishes between the two.

Any recomendations would be appreciated.

This is a good question. a few years back I was doing the 11.75 disk brake swap and ordered an 80's vintage van/truck master cylinder and it came back in iron. It's so much lighter than the stock one i didn't even notice till I got home. I will use it anyhow, but i was bummed that it wasn't aluminum. I recently went to Napa armed with numbers for an aluminum unit and they have zero in stock and order from the aftermarket. I think Master Power Brakes sells em.

Strange makes a light weight one. Mancinni and others carry it. You also have a choice of bore sizes. They are two bolt so you'll need to have an adaptor and adj. rod.

Doctor Diff sells the aluminum one, as well as the adapter . . . that is what I put on my 70 Sport Satellite. . . .

Ask and go to the only man that can tell you the right information and product Doctor Diff.
He has what you need.
I also have 4-way manual drums with the Aluminum MC.

Get what you need from DoctorDiff. He has the master cylinders, adapters, pushrods, pushrod retainers, heat shields, etc. One stop shopping and a nice guy to boot.

Thanks,
I've got a 7 pound cast iron master cylinder (mc) on there now. Wanted to shed some weigh. From a 75-77 C body or truck. Probably 1 1/32 diameter bore that works well.

Would a 1 1/8 diameter bore mc be that much different, that much more pedal pressure needed and less line pressure?

What bore size would be good for my car? :

1. drum brakes.

2. Just under 3,700lbs. with me in it and a full tank of gas.

He might know from the car you have, but I think it's almost a necessity to know the diameter of the wheel cylinders, so the master cylinder bore size can be properly determined for pedal pressure/stroke.

I'll have to research that.

I wonder if any new master cylinders are made in the US or Canada?

I have the 1 1/8" truck master cylinder with Wilwood Pro-street fronts and 11" station wagon rear drums. It's a little too firm for my taste and I'll probably swap it for the smaller bore cylinder.

The front wheel cylinder bores are apparently 1 1/8"
The rear are 15/16".
I didn't think about the wheel cylinders factoring in.

Thanks.

Looks like you're using a 1 1/8 bore mc on a 63 Dodge B body which is comparable to my 64'( yours is a little lighter probably).


Do you know if there is that much difference pressure wise,etc., between bore sizes; 1 1/32" vs 1 1/16" vs 1 1/8" ?

On the subject of pedal feel I think Carroll Smith one of road racings legendary race engineers/crew chiefs had it right, firmer is better. As long as you can generate sufficient line pressure with the bigger bore master, that's the way to go. The reason is that the human body is better at modulating pressure than it is at modulating distance. This really matters in autocross and road racing where the need for threshhold braking is fairly common. Of course if you can't get the line pressure you need with the 1 1/8 master you need to go down in size until you get what you need and just learn to live with the longer travel and softer pedal.

no larger than 1.0inch.....on drums, except in extreme situations

those aluminum/plastic masters look funny to me on a muscle car
somethin aint right..there are factory cylinders that look right