Definitely yes. Particularly without a functional emergency brake system. Have you installed seat belts yet?

 

The point of dual MC's is to protect against a failure in the rest of the system. If you have new lines, new hoses, wheel cylinders, etc. there isn't much risk to staying with a stock MC that's in good shape.

I've never, ever, had a single MC itself fail outright. Some started to weep, but still worked fine. On the other hand, I've had many dual MC's fail, and having just rear brakes is only very slightly better than no brakes.

 

Thanks for the input. My brakes were re-done in 2012. The job included: New hard and soft lines, shoes, linings, springs, clips, wheel cylinders, etc. The master cylinder was replaced in 2014. I have about 1200 miles on my brakes.

Brakes were the first thing to be replaced on my truck. I didn't take pictures, but they were nasty from sitting unused for years. It was like the brake fluid evaporated and the lines and wheel cylinders were all stopped up with a tan powdery residue. There was really no question, but that everything needed to be replaced.

 

Ross, not to argue but we've been alive more through the dual master years than the single. I've also replaced many more duals but the ratio of dual/single master cylinder vehicles I've worked on (professionally) over the past 46 years has probably been 500:1 or better.

 

I won't try to dissuade anyone from making the switch, but face it, every one of our vehicles made it 60+ years without flying off a mountainside or crashing into something, or they wouldn't still be here. I don't see the absolute need when the rest of the entire system is up to snuff, particularly for a vehicle that will likely see 2K miles/year at most, and most likely not in rush-hour traffic.

 

I wish I would have gone with a dual system when the original master cylinder was replaced. That didn't happen, but I'll definitely think about correcting my mistake down the road. For the immediate future, I'm hoping to get my emergency brake working again while I have access to a lift. A friend was good enough to invite me to use his garage to do my engine and transmission work. His generosity gives me an opportunity to get things done on my truck that would have been very difficult (or impossible) to accomplish working at home.

 

Engine work has slowed down some, but here's a picture from today. It shows my block and the cylinder boring machine:




The crank was sent away somewhere to be turned, and we are waiting for the new pistons and other parts to come in. The rocker arms and other valve train parts don't have much wear, and are going to be re-used. The lifters were worn, however, and will be replaced.

Tomorrow I'm picking up the parts I had "cooked" and will start painting.

 

I'm surprised he's boring without the new pistons in hand?

 

Yes, you are right about proper procedures. The machinist mentioned he usually waits, but didn't in this case because he doesn't have any other work. He went ahead and only partially bored the cylinders. He's leaving himself .002 to work with for final fitting when the pistons and rings come in. The cylinders are being rebored .060 so they will accept pistons for a 223 cid engine. Does that sound acceptable? Hopefully my guy knows what he is doing.

 

+60 is a pretty good cut so it makes sense to use slack time to go partway. Looks like he decked it too.

 

And we assume the machinist will pull the freeze plugs and the oil galley plugs for final cleaning. Yeah, that is pretty much a no brainer. Is he going to line bore the block?

 

I know he is going to replace the freeze plugs--we talked about that. Line boring and the oil galley plugs were never mentioned. I talked with the machinist today, he he said the engine block was going through the "cooker" again when he was finished with the final boring and honing of the cylinders.

 

The above is standard rebuild procedure in a good machine shop. Make sure he pulls the oil galley plugs and cleans the galleys. I think Ross may have mentioned this. Unless the bearings indicated unusual wear pattern, it has been my belief that line boring was optional. I've always thought line boring was more important on a long engine like the straight six. There is quite a bit of discussion over the need for line boring. It will add some additional $$ to the build.

 

Thanks Ray. I'll be sure to discuss the issues you raise when i see the machinist tomorrow. I've been seeing him just about everyday.

I was working on painting parts today and everything was going along great. Here's a picture showing some of the progress:




The valve cover is done, and I think it looks about right. Most of the black parts are finished as well. The problem came when I wanted to start working on the parts that are painted to match the engine block color. The paint I purchased for this is Lincoln Green from Bill Hirsch. The color turned out to be way off from what I was expecting. I started another thread to get some guidance on my paint color mixup. I have to think either Lincoln Green is not the correct color for my engine, or the paint I ordered is mislabeled.

 

Stu (Truckdog) has come through on my other thread and confirmed that Lincoln Green is indeed the correct color. My can must be mislabeled.