Dr. Sievers
New member
How to rebuild your clutch master cylinder 85-86 version
I have an 85 4cyl isuzu 5-spd. how do you remove the piston from the master cylinder? I'm in mid rebuild and this is a first for this with a fiero. I'm used to pull the cylinder and piston falls out. Not piston hangs out in the cylinder... lol
Edit: so this was a dumb moment last night. Anywhoot.
How to rebuild the master Cylinder on a Fiero, 1985-86 version.
1) Remove the cap from the reservoir. make sure you have the seal with it.
2) using a seringe, a baster, or a clean obsorbent cloth remove the fluid from the reservoir. (make sure you put a bunch of paper towels below the reservoir or else your going to have fluid all inside of your frunk.)
3)remove the clutch line from the master cylinder using a small crescent wrench. (This little bugger is going to get in your way a lot so just get used to him)
4) go under the dash with a set of needle nose pliers. follow the clutch pedal up till you see where the pushrod from the master cylinder is attached. You will see a little pin sticking out of the pedal that holds the end of the pushrod in place. Pull that pin with the pliers.
5) go back under the frunk and find the two bolts that hold the master cylinder to the firewall. using a 1/2" closed end wrench torque these guys off counter clockwise. (they are annoyingly tough to remove. If you HAVE to use some liquid wrench or WD-40, spray the two bolts and let the stuff sit for about 15 mins, then tap the end of the bolt with the wrench to get a small amount of vibration going throught them to loosen any particles that may be wedging them together.)
6) pull the master cylinder off the firewall and try not to spill any of the excess fluid. (stuff is bad for the enviroment so try to do things clean)
Rebuilding it part:
1) pull the boot back (the rubber seal that goes around the pushrod and the cylinder itself.) Inside of there you will see a small circlip holding the pushrod assembly to the cylinder itself. While using the pushrod to push the piston down, use a set of circlip or needle nose pliers and pull this clip. (if you are in the unfortunate situation that I was in last night, using a combination of medical clamps and an old set of tweezers you can accomplish the same feat with a little patience)
2) Next you will see that the master cylinder doesn't necessarily want to come out easily. To beat this problem use some clean brake fluid (I recomend using the cheapy stuff for this part cause you are about to use a lot of it) and scrub around the opening. Clean out any gunk you find.
3) once you've got the opening all cleaned up just tap it slightly and the piston will start to slide out. It can take a few soft but firm taps to get it out.
4) using that cheapy brake fluid we are going to clean the left over assembly the same way you'd clean out a glass bottle. shove your finger in the opening that the piston came out. put your thumb on the opening that the clutch line runs to. pour some of that cheapy brake fluid in the reservoir. Put your hand over the reservoir tightly. Shake shake shake... shake shake shake... shake your booty! Booty! and then pour it out. and repeat a couple times till you see just clean fluid coming out.
5) next, clean the pushrod if it's gunky and the circlip. most kits will have a new circlip that is just junk. try to use the original, but, save the new one in case you have to use it.
6) next wet down the new piston with the cheapy brake fluid and slide that bad boy right into the cylinder.
7) pull the old boot from the pushrod and slide the new one on. Don't worry about tearing the new one, that material is really stretchy. You have to pull it slowly over the end that attaches to the clutch pedal.
8) while using the pushrod to push the piston down, re-attach the circlip. This is really really fun...
btw I'm being sarcastic. 
9) next slide the boot back over the end of the cylinder itself. Now you are ready to "bench bleed"
10) take some of that cheapy brake fluid, because you are going to push it all out anyways, and pour it in the reservoir. Then pump the piston to suck it down in the cylinder. repeat. repeat. repeat. by now you should be squirting fluid onto your living room floor going, oh shoot as your wife stares at you and says to herself "I married him because he's a good man, I married him because he's a good man..."
11) now re-install the master cylinder doing the opposite of the removal process.
12) Bleed the line the long way. Do short cut it. And don't do it yourself have a helper. If you don't you'll just waste a bottle of fluid and still have air in your lines.
13) start the car kick in the clutch and slide it into reverse, if it slides in properly and you don't hear a grinding noise your good to go!
This is my thread on your clutch master cylinder rebuild
Also I find reading mulitple ways to do this so here is another tech guide for this process
http://www.fierostore.com/Tech/Tips.aspx?Sheet=clutchhydraulics
and another:
http://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/082567.html
2nd edit: Notice in the picture of the master cylinder with the rubber boot pulled back that the two tools actually in the picture weren't even used in this part of the process. The screw driver is used to open the rear deck lid and the small channel locks were used to open the bleeder valve on the slave cylinder ad to remove the hydraulic line from the master cylinder.
I have an 85 4cyl isuzu 5-spd. how do you remove the piston from the master cylinder? I'm in mid rebuild and this is a first for this with a fiero. I'm used to pull the cylinder and piston falls out. Not piston hangs out in the cylinder... lol
Edit: so this was a dumb moment last night. Anywhoot.
How to rebuild the master Cylinder on a Fiero, 1985-86 version.
1) Remove the cap from the reservoir. make sure you have the seal with it.
2) using a seringe, a baster, or a clean obsorbent cloth remove the fluid from the reservoir. (make sure you put a bunch of paper towels below the reservoir or else your going to have fluid all inside of your frunk.)
3)remove the clutch line from the master cylinder using a small crescent wrench. (This little bugger is going to get in your way a lot so just get used to him)
4) go under the dash with a set of needle nose pliers. follow the clutch pedal up till you see where the pushrod from the master cylinder is attached. You will see a little pin sticking out of the pedal that holds the end of the pushrod in place. Pull that pin with the pliers.
5) go back under the frunk and find the two bolts that hold the master cylinder to the firewall. using a 1/2" closed end wrench torque these guys off counter clockwise. (they are annoyingly tough to remove. If you HAVE to use some liquid wrench or WD-40, spray the two bolts and let the stuff sit for about 15 mins, then tap the end of the bolt with the wrench to get a small amount of vibration going throught them to loosen any particles that may be wedging them together.)
6) pull the master cylinder off the firewall and try not to spill any of the excess fluid. (stuff is bad for the enviroment so try to do things clean)
Rebuilding it part:
1) pull the boot back (the rubber seal that goes around the pushrod and the cylinder itself.) Inside of there you will see a small circlip holding the pushrod assembly to the cylinder itself. While using the pushrod to push the piston down, use a set of circlip or needle nose pliers and pull this clip. (if you are in the unfortunate situation that I was in last night, using a combination of medical clamps and an old set of tweezers you can accomplish the same feat with a little patience)
2) Next you will see that the master cylinder doesn't necessarily want to come out easily. To beat this problem use some clean brake fluid (I recomend using the cheapy stuff for this part cause you are about to use a lot of it) and scrub around the opening. Clean out any gunk you find.
3) once you've got the opening all cleaned up just tap it slightly and the piston will start to slide out. It can take a few soft but firm taps to get it out.
4) using that cheapy brake fluid we are going to clean the left over assembly the same way you'd clean out a glass bottle. shove your finger in the opening that the piston came out. put your thumb on the opening that the clutch line runs to. pour some of that cheapy brake fluid in the reservoir. Put your hand over the reservoir tightly. Shake shake shake... shake shake shake... shake your booty! Booty! and then pour it out. and repeat a couple times till you see just clean fluid coming out.
5) next, clean the pushrod if it's gunky and the circlip. most kits will have a new circlip that is just junk. try to use the original, but, save the new one in case you have to use it.
6) next wet down the new piston with the cheapy brake fluid and slide that bad boy right into the cylinder.
7) pull the old boot from the pushrod and slide the new one on. Don't worry about tearing the new one, that material is really stretchy. You have to pull it slowly over the end that attaches to the clutch pedal.
8) while using the pushrod to push the piston down, re-attach the circlip. This is really really fun...
btw I'm being sarcastic. 9) next slide the boot back over the end of the cylinder itself. Now you are ready to "bench bleed"
10) take some of that cheapy brake fluid, because you are going to push it all out anyways, and pour it in the reservoir. Then pump the piston to suck it down in the cylinder. repeat. repeat. repeat. by now you should be squirting fluid onto your living room floor going, oh shoot as your wife stares at you and says to herself "I married him because he's a good man, I married him because he's a good man..."
11) now re-install the master cylinder doing the opposite of the removal process.
12) Bleed the line the long way. Do short cut it. And don't do it yourself have a helper. If you don't you'll just waste a bottle of fluid and still have air in your lines.
13) start the car kick in the clutch and slide it into reverse, if it slides in properly and you don't hear a grinding noise your good to go!
This is my thread on your clutch master cylinder rebuild
Also I find reading mulitple ways to do this so here is another tech guide for this process
http://www.fierostore.com/Tech/Tips.aspx?Sheet=clutchhydraulics
and another:
http://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/082567.html
2nd edit: Notice in the picture of the master cylinder with the rubber boot pulled back that the two tools actually in the picture weren't even used in this part of the process. The screw driver is used to open the rear deck lid and the small channel locks were used to open the bleeder valve on the slave cylinder ad to remove the hydraulic line from the master cylinder.
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