[heckinohio]

My '61 wagon w/PS takes many turns of the steering wheel to get from lock to lock. There must be a steering sector with far fewer turns that is a direct interchange??

As many of you know, Donna's loss of her left foot has stopped her from driving a four-speed car. We still have and use her '63. I had planned on a church trip this morning only to find that the right front wheel stops instantly when I apply the brakes. Can only be a leaking wheel cyl. Happens frequently in cars that don't get used often..... Local Corvette guy has the same problem. He said to get rid of the DOT fluid and go to new synthetic while changing the cyls.......

Is this OK in systems that have had DOT in them for years??

PJH

[JLMounce]

Was your friend talking about synthetic fluid or silicon fluid? Most DOT fluids are synthetic, unless it's incredibly old. If the fluid is that old, you should flush it regardless and you can mix synthetic with conventional. What you can't do is mix silicon fluid with synthetic or conventional brake fluid. Silicon fluids are labeled as DOT 5.

You can mix DOT 3, 4 and 5.1 as you wish.

If the fluid you have in the car now is so old and unused that it's caused a wheel cylinder to fail, suspect that there is corrosion elsewhere in the system as well, particularly the brake hard lines. A complete inspection of the brake system is probably warranted.

In regards to the steering gear, I believe that you should be able to get a slightly more modern gear in there without too much fuss. I'm fairly certain the mounting provisions are the same for a car in 61 vs 71 for instance. What you may need is to use a different rag joint to mate it to your column. A Borgeson box should have a 12.7:1 ratio and provide much quicker steering. I am not 100% positive on this though, so you may want to consult elsewhere.

[heckinohio]

I found a Borg sector here with '74 Caddy tag on it.......?? I will have to do some sort of mounting/rag connector evaluation while I am changing the wheel cyls.

I am reasonably sure the brake fluid in this car is whatever GM put in it in '63......gonna do all four wheels at the same time, I seem to remember doing this master cyl about 20 years ago........??????

PJH

[JLMounce]

At minimum you should also do all of the soft lines in the car. If the fluid is 20+ years old, I would be inspecting the crap out of the hard line as well. Brake fluid is hydroscopic, it collects moisture. Fluid that old will have the ability to rot the brakes lines from the inside out.