AP Master Cylinder

[David H]

'IF' I was to upgrade to an AP master cylinder on the brakes do I have to purchase this from Westfield?

It turns out that Westfield's is made exclusively by AP for Westfield only and a quick call to AP confirmed this. AP didn't let me know of a near match.

My question is this, is it good value at 149+vat compared to something of a near match by AP, for less from elsewhere? Or, am I flogging a dead horse, if I wanted an AP cylinder that this is the one I should get?

I'm not really trying to determine whether I need one, I would like to find out if there is a viable alternative really.

(My current master cylinder is in question at the mo so looking at options....)

Comments appreciated chaps.

Dave

[Nick Algar - Competition Secretary]

Presuming this is the single master cylinder you could always swap to 2 cyclinder and bias brakes. For similar money and cheaper replacement in the future

[pete g]

is it not the same as the caterham use.

[pistonbroke]

Dont really see the value unless you have 4 pot brakes fitted , then it would depend on who'se 4 pots you use  

[Mark Stanton]

Have you tried Cat Motorsport, Plays Kool or Procomp        

[David H]

is it not the same as the caterham use.

I think so, it would be the same deal as Westfield

[David H]

Dont really see the value unless you have 4 pot brakes fitted , then it would depend on who'se 4 pots you use  

I've got Wilwood 4 pots on the front. I have quite a bit of travel on brake pedal before they are locked. No amount of pumping them stiffens it up so it seems it would be unlikely to be air. I have also bled loads and I'm aware that the air has a habit of finding a little place to stay. This is a well covered subject and I have done the usual searches finding all sorts of answers.

I would like to try taking up some of this travel by adjusting the pushrod as the brakes are good, but couldn't find out how to. I was going to try this also before spending any money.

Could someone tell me how to do this (standard tandem westfield supplied cylinder)

I'm just trying to search for a way to lessen the pedal travel. The bore in the AP is larger therefore the travel should be less due to the larger displacement of fluid...?

[David H]

Have you tried Cat Motorsport, Plays Kool or Procomp        

No but I will thanks

[chazpowerslide]

The AP cylinder makes a huge difference to the annount of pedal travel you get, I'd recommend you fit one if you have a long pedal/4 pots.

It worked a treat on min, a near solid pedal (a good base for heel and toe) along with better feel.

As to other suppliers you could try Rally Design for a Wilwood master cylinder (they do a big selection).

Chaz.

[salexander]

The AP cylinder made an immediate difference to my brakes too, great pedal feel and very litle travel after 10 seconds of bleeding.  Got my cylinder from Caterham, all of my research suggested they were the same!

[pete g]

i use standard cylinder with 4 pot wilwoods.have done for 8 years plus . dont see the problem. unless you went for big bore pistons.

[David H]

Thanks chaps. It does seem that some people have no problems and some do. I've had a few people tell me that the master cylinder might have a 'faulty valve' allowing the travel.

Just had a look on the Caterham site and the AP is the same price.

I'll have a word with the other suppliers and see whats about and no doubt chew it over a bit more.......

[Mark Stanton]

AP as others supply various "branded" components to car manufacturers but unless all the design development and tooling costs are met and licenses / contracts signed, rarely are components unique or exclusive   and can often be found with an alternative name, reference etc   what is often the case is that a product will be "branded" with the relevant manufacturers name and this may only retailed by that manufacturer  

Bit like buying some addidas trainers without the 3 stripes      

[David H]

I dont mind wearing addidas without the stripe. Where can I find a pair?

[jeff oakley]

I went through this myself in the past and I have access to most of the manufacturers data base.

The standard Westfield cylinder is the same as fitted to a Morgan plus 4 and is split 50/50 fluid distribution. The AP Racing one is split 60/40. the only one that had a similar distribution was the morgan Plus 8 but this was almost three times more expensive than the AP one.

AP have the design and distribution on this one sewn up through it's own distributors. I had both TRW and Delphi technical search their data base for something similar and drew a blank. I bought the AP one in the end and it does work well. The alternative as someone said is to convert to two single circuit cylinders with a balance bar system.