so i was outside today bolting the tranny (T5) up to the block. i knew this before but the hydraulic cylinder that presses on the clutch fork (not sure if its master or slave or what its called) has the pushrod hanging out. when i bought the car it had no motor and the pushrod was just hanging there, chilling inside the boot. i was told thats fine and that it wasn't broken. i had to remove the cylinder to get at one of the bellhousing bolts (some of those guys are nasty). anyways, now my question is how do i get the pushrod back into the cylinder? i'm obviously not stronger than a hydraulic press so is there a way to drain the cylinder or something? if i drain it i'll need to figure out how to fill it up and get it working properly again.

p.s. on a side not, i ordered arp's motor mount bolts (the ones that go through the bushing pn# 130-3105) but when i got them this morning, and tried to put them in they were too short. they're supposed to fit all sb and bb chevy's. if anyone knows whats up or what the proper part number for the longer bolts are, please let me know!

 

Alright, so I went back out there and i believe i found the bleed screw. its an allen bolt/plug right behind the hose. it was just so greasy i couldn't see it until I cleaned it off. anyways, i read somewhere on here that if fluid comes out of the boot, your slave is probably dead. well, there was liquid leaking from my boot whenever i tapped the pushrod. so i decided to pop off the boot and see what was going on. I don't know how to add images to this but i'm going to try. what i found was the base of the cylinder on which the boot seals has some chips in it. also, none of the pieces were together and the thing the pushrod sits in was out of the cylinder. anyways i'll let the pictures speak for themselves. i'm pretty sure the slave is dead but any other opinions are welcome. by the way, can you buy just a slave cyl or do you have to buy the whole thing (slave, mc, reservoir)?









The last pic is the pieces i found in the tub when i popped the boot off. they look like the chips missing from the cylinder. also, I may be wrong but shouldn't the hydraulic fluid be red? not gold? and shouldn't it be really clean?

 

The clutch hydraulic fluid is DOT 3 brake fluid.

 

yeah. isn't that stuff red?

 

no, its clear

trans fluid (ATF) is red

 

oh. i used ATF in a jack that ran out of fluid once. it was red. it was hydraulic fluid. good to know, might have dumped ATF in there by accident lol.

 

ATF is very similar to a N32 hydraulic oil. You can use just about any hydraulic type oil where a hydraulic oil is recommended. Power steering oil for example.

Brake fluid isn't a petroleum based oil. It's a mineral oil.

 

that slave cylinder is shot. time for a new one

 

the slave cylinder is history , might want to think about a new master cylinder also . for hyd fluid it uses dot 3 brake fluid . good luck .

 

yeah, I've ordered a new one already its on its way.