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Getting to the Bottom of the McLeod MC

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Old 08-24-2004, 04:21 PM
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Default Getting to the Bottom of the McLeod MC

Well since my tranny has now lost 3rd & 4th there will be some down time. So I am going to look into the problem I was having with my McLeod MC. I called George at McLeod today. He was very helpful. I explained to him my problems with bleeding the system and the moving engagement point. I told him that I took my MC apart and saw that the rings were deteriorating. He is sending me a rebuild kit this week. He also asked me to call Chuck over at CNC who makes the Master Cylinders for them.

Chuck on the other hand was not as helpful. He really didn’t want to listen to my problem and blamed everything on McLeod or me. He said the problem was that McLeod uses a plastic line from the MC to the SC. I took me repeating myself a couple of times before he realized it is a 1/8” braided line, not plastic. Then he told me I must not have done the drill mod, which I told him I had. He then said the problem must be that I don’t have the right size line. He said I needed a 1/4” line instead of a 1/8” line. This was because the Master Cylinder is pushing more fluid then the line can handle and causing the fluid to push back past the o-rings on the plunger.

I ran out of time today to call George at McLeod back to get his take on this. I don’t understand how a larger line would necessarily work, because the fitting on the end of the master cylinder is only 1/8” and so is the fitting on the Slave Cylinder. (I think, haven’t measured). Is Chuck at CNC just coming up with something else to blame???

Has anyone successfully retrofitted their entire hydraulics with a flowing system? What all would need to be drilled out? Where can I get a larger line from? After my tranny is rebuilt I don’t want to screw it up again due to the hydraulics.



More to come when I call George at McLeod back tomorrow.
Old 08-25-2004, 06:00 PM
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My mcleod worked for last month and its fubar now.Didn't dissect it yet but no reverse and all gears are hard to get into.It also sounds weird.I installed it as it was supposed to,did drill mod .It comes with 1/8 inch line what are they smoking? And doubt a reseal kit will work.Their seems to be a design problem maybe here although some guys seem to have good luck with them.Mcleod needs to take a super hard look at their design.It worked great at first but pedal pressure was not nice with my cartech clutch.I lived with as long as it shifted great.Now have to rip it out and do something to use my clutch,my clutch needs adjustable master unfortunately or would just throw stock master in there.
Old 08-25-2004, 10:50 PM
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Mine makes a mushy sound like it has air in it even after bleeding the **** out of it. It's a POS! Im gonna take it out and put a RAM adjustable in and see id it helps.
Old 08-25-2004, 11:52 PM
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I think the Ram master is a modified stock master made adjustable? Not sure though....
Old 08-26-2004, 12:20 AM
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Yes it is.
Old 08-26-2004, 12:50 AM
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Originally Posted by Onyx Z
Yes it is.
I don't think that is the answer either. Yeah it is much more reliable, but it doesn't push nearly as much fluid as the McLeod. You will know what I mean if you install it. The stock adjustable MC just feels unbalanced when used with an aftermarked performance clutch.

I still haven't had a chance to call George back yet. Tomorrow I am hopping to.
Old 08-26-2004, 01:35 AM
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Took me a year and a lot of trial and error to come up with a method that works. True, the McLeod is a tough one to bleed proerly, but it can be done. Mine's been rock solid for well over a year.

Mike
Old 08-26-2004, 02:08 PM
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Ok, I bled it many times and I still have the same problem. It feels fine for a few minutes, then bleh.......just as it was before.

Whenever I hook up the MityVac and attempt bleed it, it holds pressure for a little while, then it slowly loses all pressure. But there are no leaks that I see.
Old 08-26-2004, 02:19 PM
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I think that is because the o-rings are shot. I'm still waiting to call McLeod back until I pull my friction plate. If it is already toast after only 1,000 miles I'm gonna want a new one.
Old 08-26-2004, 04:45 PM
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I have already had 2 in my car. This one has been like this since day one. About 1,000 miles on this one.
Old 08-26-2004, 06:54 PM
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I pulled my bellhousing and presure plate today, there as major wear and hot spots already, after just 1,000 miles.
Well, I Just got off the Phone with George at McLeod. He was very helpful this time also. He told me to box up everything, presure plate, clutch disk, and flywheel and send it back to him. He is going to take a look at it and see what he can do for me.

I also told him about my converstation with Chuck at CNC and he told me that didn't sound right at all and he was going to call Chuck and discuss the issues.

So hopefully in less then two weeks I'll have my car runnin. Just need to get a synchro kit & 3/4 shift fork from D&D and my clutch peices back from McLeod. Sounds like two weeks of waitin on the UPS guy.
Old 08-26-2004, 07:30 PM
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Originally Posted by Onyx Z
Ok, I bled it many times and I still have the same problem. It feels fine for a few minutes, then bleh.......just as it was before.

Whenever I hook up the MityVac and attempt bleed it, it holds pressure for a little while, then it slowly loses all pressure. But there are no leaks that I see.

thats how my first MC was and it ened up being a bad seal. replaced it and havent had a problem yet. as for the Mity-vac losing pressure i belive its just the resivoir not holding a good seal. mine does the same thing.

JR



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