Giulietta brakes

["Dave and Jane" <jazzoid@domain.elided>]

I've just removed the brake master cylinder from my '58 Sprint. I was getting
occasional incidents of no petal at all with the next pump being fine. It got
worse and I did well to get home. In the driveway I could pump the brakes 5 or
6 times in a row with the petal going all the way to the floor and no action
before I'd get one ok. The fluid in the reservoir showed movement when the
petal was pumped. The car has a 750 builder's plate but 101 body, egg crate
grill and large tail lights. Now to the questions.

1. IAP's catalog indicates a number of different possible MC manufacturers,
Girling, Benditalia, ATE,and Brembo but makes no mention of years. The
reservoir says Girling but I can't read the name cast on the side of the
cylinder. Centerline and IAP both list rebuild kits for Girling but not the
others. How do I tell for sure what I have? Other suspiciousness, the shop
manual indicated the brake lights should operate off the front of the MC but
the front of this MC has what sort of looks like a pipe plug capping the end
and the brake lights must get triggered from a T where the front and back
lines separate. The car dates from a transitional period and was restores in
'89 by the previous owner, either could cause my MC to be from a later car.

2. If I wanted to convert the front to disc brakes do I need a MC from a later
series car? Do I need some sort of proportioning valve or other means to get
proper front to rear brake balance? Just what parts do I need to collect to do
the brake conversion?

Emmo - '58 Sprint and 72 GTV
--
to be removed from alfa, see /bin/digest-subs.cgi
or email "unsubscribe alfa" to majordomo@domain.elided