Topic: Spray Sealer around Brake Master Cylinder, Dearborn '66?

[drummingrocks]

I'm still working on a correcting a few details in the engine bay of my '66 fastback, built Dec. 8th, 1965, at Dearborn.  I can't really tell from the pictures I have of the car before it was restored, but should it have originally had spray sealer anywhere around the brake master cylinder?  Or did the workers avoid this area?  If it had sealer, would it have extended onto the mounting bolts for the master cylinder, or onto the bolts that mounted the brake pedal support through the firewall?

The car has had a leaking master cylinder in the past, so I can't be sure that whatever sealer was originally there wasn't dissolved by wayward brake fluid.

[CharlesTurner]

It was typical for there to be spray sealer around the master cylinder base where it goes through the firewall.  The amount of sealer and how it was applied varies greatly, mostly for different assembly plants.

[J_Speegle]

A couple of pictures to illustrate what was done. Master cylinders are often replaced but the amount of sealer around the shadow or firewall directly next to the master cylinder base should give a good idea of how much sealer was applied and where

Hope this helps - both examples are pretty heavy applications that might be typical of NJ produced cars since their cars most likely went to regions of the country and for export that really benefited from the additional sealer. One of the consistent complaints of dealers to Ford was water leaking into the passenger compartment

[rocket289k]

A couple of pictures to illustrate what was done. Master cylinders are often replaced but the amount of sealer around the shadow or firewall directly next to the master cylinder base should give a good idea of how much sealer was applied and where

Hope this helps - both examples are pretty heavy applications that might be typical of NJ produced cars since their cars most likely went to regions of the country and for export that really benefited from the additional sealer. One of the consistent complaints of dealers to Ford was water leaking into the passenger compartment

Hi Jeff,

My NJ build car unfortunately contradicts your theory of NJ cars getting a pretty heavy application of sealer.  My pre-restoration picture of that area shows little if any sealer present.  There is evidence of a little bit of sealer by the master cylinder and the steering box assembly as it passes through the firewall.  However, the remainder of the firewall was pretty much devoid of any sealer (e.g. where the heater hoses pass through the firewall and around the heater motor.

Regards,

Ron

[J_Speegle]

Ron - what's the vin or projected build date on that example?

Product in my two examples is allot different than what was applied to San Jose cars

[rocket289k]

Ron - what's the vin or projected build date on that example?

Product in my two examples is allot different than what was applied to San Jose cars

Hi Jeff,

I have the body buck tag on my car so I'll give you both dates.  The car is late 1965 model year production.  Projected build date on the door tag is July 19, 1965.  The buck tag date is July 21, 1965.

PS - I uploaded a large picture so if you click on it you can still use the "view at full size button in the picture lightbox" to get you an even larger picture that you can zoom in on.

Regards,

Ron

[J_Speegle]

Thanks