Old piston

Brake line

New piston
Hey guys, this has me frustrated. Been working on her for about a year and am about ready to put her on the road. Now I’ve hit a hiccup. Bought new backing plates, pistons, shoes, the works. Replacing seals at the same time so dismantled everything. The end of the brake line has a nipple on it and the new pistons for drum brakes don’t have the same mating surface as the old pistons. I’ll try to post pics. Recommendations?

 

Those aren't "pistons". They're called "wheel cylinders".

That aside, 84 was the changeover year from SAE brake fittings to metric. 82, 83, & early 84 were SAE; late 84 on up were metric.

Your old ones are metric. They have what's referred to as a "bubble flare". The new ones you got are SAE, with "inverted flare". You have a "late" 84 car, whatever that means... I have no clue when during production the change occurred, or how many of each there were, or any details like that.

Take them back if you can. (probably not, but you could try I guess) Get WCs for 85 instead. In fact, now that you know what you have, whenever you buy whatever brake parts for your car, ask for 85 instead of 84, and you'll avoid the confusion. Otherwise you might have the same thing happen to you again with any of the other hydraulic parts. (rubber lines, calipers, MC, combo valve, steel lines)

 

Spot on.

Pretty sure there's another thread change later on (89), but not sure exactly what all the change impacts.

Take the old wheel cylinder with you and make sure the replacement they hand you matches before you leave the store.

 

Thank you so much for the input. I appreciate the knowledge about the year and the changes made. Yeah, I just left the auto parts store. They had one, just my luck. Feel like a DA now for asking such a silly question on the site. I don’t know nearly as much as I thought I did about this car even though I’ve had it since I was 15. I’m 42 now.

 

Don't sweat it, the more facts you know the harder it is to keep them all straight. A lot of things a person learns here are because someone else has already had to ask.