1957 Hudson Hornet

Unknown

Can anyone elaborate to me the position of the master cylinder on the '57 Hornet Treadlvac assembly relative to the access hole through the floorboard? The reason I ask is that I just acquired a '57 Hornet and the master cylinder cap/fill is sloped forward on the car and away from the floorboard access plate making it such that it is nearly impossible to access the cap and remove it and the method to fill the reservoir is yet to be determined. Should not the master cylinder fill cap line up close under the floorboard access plate?
Additionally, the brakes fade after a few moments. I suspect a kinked vacuum line at one of the Treadlvac fittingss?

Nevada Hudson

I just use a large socket to remove my cap. You can't get a wrench around it. Same as for my stepdown.

Unknown

Well, that's the problem here; unlike my '53 and '54 stepdowns, this cap is away from the access hole and tilted allowing no room at all for a socket. Not even enough room w/o and extension. I plna to take a jpeg this evening to illustrate the problem.

Nevada Hudson

I guess your master cylinder was installed wrong or something hit it or bent it to have it so off center.

Unknown

I posted three photos of my master cylinder position at this link:

http://groups.msn.com/HudsonEssexTerraplaneBulletinBoard/57hudsonbrakes.msnw?Page=Last

Going to try to get under the car tonight for a closer look.

Unknown

Got under the '57 tonight. Seems there are two "circumstances,". 1. the Tradlevac itself sits level when mounted to this particular car, which makes the reservoir slope forward. 2. Someone had apparently replaced the top cover back on (6 flt head screws) backwards, which is the main reason the cap does not match up with the floor hole. Unable to remove the screws easily while the unit is on the car, so will live it. Just necessitates jacking the car up and crawling underneath to get the filler cap off.

Unknown

It appears that indeed your top is on backwards...at least from how they appear on '54 Hudsons. That would also affect the usefulness of that small return tube...although I have some tops without that tube. I've not seen how they mount on your model, but if you pull the pin that connects the pedal mechanism to the push rod and loosen the mounting bolts the TV unit may drop enough for you to get a stubby screw driver in to unscrew and reverse the top. Good luck! Hal

Unknown

Yeah, I will wait to reverse that top. I have some really short tiny screw drivers plus the 90 degree angle on the ends type and probably could do this thing maybe in an hour with "patience." But I am able (just barely) to loosen the cap and remove it and then use a long tube to fill the reservoir; of course it overflowed last night, but not much. I ponder why that reversed top was not noticed until now (I just got the car over the weekend).