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MG MGB Technical - Master cylinder dismantling

Have a Lockheed 3211/832C 3/4 Q3 master cylinder I'm trying to get the piston out of. Book says there's a circlip in front of the nylon guide bushing. Me and the magnifying glass says that doesn't exist. Please: anyone know how to get the thing disassembled. I would appreciate it very much.

Oh yeah. Came from a '68 B

Tom Lea
White Heath, Illinois
Tom

If there is no clip then just repeated pushing back on the piston should pop it loose. There is a spring behind it so it just comes out. It might be rusted in so if you spray some penetrant or WD-40 in it, and rotate and push on the piston it should work itself out. Hope this helps.

Brooks Twist
Brooks Twist

Tom,
I had the same issue when rebuilding mine the first time. ( I have since rebuild a number of them from variuos year models.) The circlip is a nasty little guy to get out and on mine the groove that it sits in was so deep that I did not even see it at first look, however it was there. If it is gone you will need to get one when you reassemble otherwise the guts will fall out at the worst possible time. Brooks' suggestion is right on in that they bore will get corroded and a bit of WD will break it loose. As a check for the circlip you can depress the white nylon spacer a bit and see what the groove looks like. Good luck.
N
Nat Massey

Despite what the shop manual said AND what the cross-sectional view of the master cylinder showed, there was no top clip or groove. Drilled 2 holes 180 apart in the nylon guide bushing and pulled it out with 2 long machine screws. Ya gotta love it.
Tom

This thread was discussed between 13/01/2004 and 15/01/2004

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