I'm on my third t56 swap so far i did one in my buddys 87 iroc, my other friends 87 formula and now i'm doing one in my 88 iroc.. when i mounted the cylinder thru the firewall on the 87 iroc the rod aligned perfectly straight from the clutch pedal to the cylinder. On the 87 formula i drilled out the pattern again just as i did the first time and it did not align straight, so i used a dremel and shaved the hole, turned the cylinder a tad so taht when u pushed the clutch pedal down the rod would go perfectly straight into the cylinder jsut as the first one did.. NOW i'm doing mine, i'm using the 4th gen pedals out of the 01' donor car, these pedals have a bracket (part of the pedal assembly) that the U bolt passes thru, i have it all drilled and mounted, however the rod does not go perfectly straight into the cylinder, i'm going to have to shave the bracket a tad so i can rotate the cylinder to get it aligned perfectly.. how did your cylinders align? Is it really necessary taht the rod is aligned perfectly into the cylinder?? or am i just being too picky..

thanks, Mike

I was wondering the same thing. I think theres probably some room for error, but obviously if its off alot it could bind up in the bore or produce side loading on the cylinder. Mine wasnt visibly off, but if I look at the boot with the pedal all the way to the floor, its slightly off, maybe by a 1/16 of an inch or so.

This is really "master mount"? The slave is down on the bell housing.

The car body flexes ALOT right there, and probably introduces more error than any 1/16" in normal operation. This belongs in the class of "measure with micrometer, mark with chalk, cut with axe", and trying to finesse it too much is a waste of your perfectly good lifetime. I wouldn't be surprised if you could measure it, park it on an uneven surface and re-measure it, and it would have changed by more than 1/16".

Sounds to me like you have it plenty close enough, and it's time to quit dinking around with it and move on.

1/16" is closer then I thought it would ever be, so Im happy I basically shut one eye, looked at the insulation, pulled out a magic marker + ruler, and went 'that looks centered, lets drill some holes'.

1/16th of an inch is perfect. i dont bother measuring it but ive been installing them 'by eye' and calling it good. mine however is off more than that, its visibly not on center and i am worried about side loading it too much. So in conclusion i'm jsut gona trim and make it straight. I jsut didnt understand how it could line up perfectly in the 2001 pedal bracket and be so off..?? Anyone else have a problem or is it just me? lol

later, mike

I'm doing the swap also. Does anybody have pics of their firewall? so I could get an Idea of where you guys are putting the cylinder.

Pull back your carpet from under your pedals, look at the sound deadener right behind your brake pedal, u will see two holes in teh sound deadener and one big hole (usually not cut out all the way) in the center. This is the template for mounting your master cylinder, i will try to get pix up as soon as possible

Mike

Brother that would be great!

here is a pic

So it is required to pull the Brake booster out?

Thanks for the Pic!

it makes it alot easier, but not required

Thanks for the Info.

no problem, i saved the pic from when i was asking before i did my swap. glad i could help

The brake booster, stock pedals, steering column, it all should come out for the swap. Its probably possible to do it otherwise, but it would be harder then just pulling everything to begin with.

i saw no reason for the sterring column to come out. but the rest is a gimmie

Steering Column? Isn't that a nightmare in it self?

The column itself comes out easy. Its all the wiring hooked up to it that makes it a pain. I probably couldve done it w/o removing it, but the top bolt that secures the pedals to the booster was nearly impossible to reach.

it makes it a little harder to reach but u can if you take the seat out and lay on your back, with a couple extensions

The worst part about removing the brake booster is the lock nuts. You'll get at most 2 clicks on the ratchet, and since the lock nut comes hard the whole way it takes some time. Removing the seat and laying on your back is pretty much the only way I found to do it. Just be sure to lay some rags over the seat studs....your back skin will appreciate it.

I just re-installed the booster last week after my T56 conversion, and I did myself a huge favor by going to the parts store and buying some 10mm nuts and lock washers. Thread them on with your fingers, then tighten. Probably saved over an hour.

This is just my opinion, but the 20 mins. to unplug everything, unbolt the column, and pull it aside just seemed easier at the time then trying to get that uppermost bolt off with the column in the way. I guess it comes down to whether you want to spend the time removing the column or spend the time on your back fiddling with the bolt.

well i guess it is all up to you, once you get that fare u will need to make up your mind on what you want to do, anyway good luck on what ever you choose.

Does anyone have pics of the where the slave cylinder goes, I'm thinking about doing this swap and I want to make sure I have all the information before I dive into it. Also, the car has an automatic in it right now.

Thanks,
Jay