!960 Brake Master cylinder

[TomReinmueller]

Im looking into getting a 1961 Corvair..it has the 1960 style master cylynder located inside under the steering wheel.. there is no reservoir..how do you fill that cylinder? do u take those two screws off that front plate in the trunk and fill it there? any help would b appreciated.... thx...Tom

[64powerglide]

Here is a page from Clark's catalog. You can click on it to enlarge it a bit.

[gwlee]

In the trunk on the upper ledge, at the m/c.
There is a cap, remove it to fill the m/c.

[bbodie52]

It is difficult to find pictures and illustrations of the 1960-61 Corvair. I finally found the picture below and tried to enhance it to show the detail around the master cylinder access point in the trunk. You can see why 1960-61 were the only model years that cannot be easily upgraded to utilize the dual master cylinder that was introduced in 1967. In 1962 a new design single master cylinder was introduced into the Corvair lineup, and that made the upgrade to a dual master cylinder essentially a bolt in operation. With some relatively minor plumbing modifications the safety of a dual master cylinder can be installed in any 1962-66 Corvair in place of the single master cylinder. Not so with the 1960-61 design.

Left click the image below to enlarge for better viewing…

[TomReinmueller]

K thx guys for your help...there is a 61 4door im looking at to buy with a 60 MC..its a project car ..everything works except the brakes..so ill refill the MC and see if it works...Thx!

[WinginEngineer]

For what it's worth in your buying decision, I just purchased brake lines, wheel cylinders, and hardware for all 4 corners for my '62.

The lines and cylinders came from rock auto and were stupid cheap ($5ea for the lines and $10ea for the cylinders).

The hardware had to come from California Corvair and was $8/bag. Now, a bag CLAIMS its good for 2 corners, but it's not. You will need 4 bags.

Point is, even if the system is trashed it's pretty cheap and easy to do a full rebuild. So don't be too scared off by bad brakes. There's so many more expensive and complicated repairs on this car that if those are good, its still worth it.

[dave t]

I used to have a 60 and a 61. They both use the same MC. They are not too hard to rebuild as long as the bore is still good. Since you are removing it, be sure to get a set of plastic pedal sleeves and grease them up. I also suggest you invest in a set of line wrenches. They will help keep you from destroying the line fittings. They also work great on fuel lines.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Corvair Forum mobile app

[TomReinmueller]

Thx so much guys!