A friend who is very knowledgeable about GM muscle car facts tells me that all (most?) GM master cylinders through the muscle car era were painted a semi gloss black. Do you folks agree with that statement? This good guy is a judge at the GTO Nationals. What do you think?
Thanks.

black is accepted but most of the ones I see are natural.
I opted for black on my 70 SS

All master cylinders were natural from the factory. Just think about the how you would paint any cast iron part that had machined surfaces. All the hand masking and plug inserting. I don't believe a manufacturer would go to that extra expense. Example - exhaust manifolds & wheel cylinders are always natural, so why not master cylinders too. Our reatoration shop leaves all cast iron parts natural, but we coat them with a bare metal clear.

All master cylinders were natural from the factory. Just think about the how you would paint any cast iron part that had machined surfaces. All the hand masking and plug inserting. I don't believe a manufacturer would go to that extra expense. Example - exhaust manifolds & wheel cylinders are always natural, so why not master cylinders too. Our reatoration shop leaves all cast iron parts natural, but we coat them with a bare metal clear.


it is a fact that Corvette master cylinders where painted black

I do think we have to agree to be very careful when use words/language like ALWAYS... and we also need to specify what model year we are talking about. Not just for this particular post, but so that when down the road, a SEARCH takes place.. someone will know what we are talking about. We do know from experience that certain things changed from one year to another. Blanket statements covering all years and Models is not usually prudent, no offense to Steve.

I know that many of my Canadians friends have concluded that some master cylinders on 66's in Canada were BLACK from the Factory.

Mike Crown

Every original 69 Chevelle that I have seen has had a painted master cylinder. The gloss level varies, but mostly semi-gloss I'd say. I even have a couple of NOS ones in the box that are painted black.

Woj.

Black is the majority on most 69-70's I have had.

My '69 came with a black master cylinder. :yes:

My 69 was the beautiful natural rust:yes:

My 1970 is not painted.

Respectfully,
John R.

my 70 has natural rust.

As you can see from the replies, both Natural and Black are technically accepted.

I opt for Black as well.

All master cylinders were natural from the factory. Just think about the how you would paint any cast iron part that had machined surfaces. All the hand masking and plug inserting. I don't believe a manufacturer would go to that extra expense. Example - exhaust manifolds & wheel cylinders are always natural, so why not master cylinders too. Our reatoration shop leaves all cast iron parts natural, but we coat them with a bare metal clear.
If the factory painted the MC's (sounds like they did on some anyway), I'm guessing they did it before machining.

Correct or not, they sure do look a lot better natural cast iron :yes:
Eastwood's Stainless Steel High Temp Coating works great,looks like new cast iron and lasts for years.
http://www.eastwoodco.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=732&itemType=PRODUCT&iMainCat=390&iSubCat=394&iProductID=732
It also makes cast iron exhaust manifolds look new for years.

JMO, if they were painted, 40 some-odd years of brake fluid splashing on it from refills and/or bleeding would probably take most of the paint off. ;)
I also wonder if if one supplier, say Bendix, painted the masters, and another like Delco/Moraine didn't.
BillL

The original painted metal from many original parts will certainly be mostly long gone decades later. Taking a look at many parts it's obvious they were dipped in paint and had no primer on them from the factory.
Some items now, 40+ years later may only have a slight residual of paint left somewhere on the part. You'd swear it had never had any paint on it until you look very carefully!!

Dan

I bought my #'s matching 69 chevelle ss 396 from the original owner in 1978 and the original power brake master cyl that was still on the car when i bought it only being 9 yrs old at the time & it WAS DEFINATELY NOT PAINTED BLACK,it was a natural cast iron look.

SCOTT

Our shop is sticking with the natural color on master cylinders. Paint it if you want, but I think natural looks better.