Well.. I bought a new slave cylinder, and the ONLY freaking hardware that came w/ it was an o-ring and a c-clip type thing that is about 4cm or so long. I stuck the o-ring in the hole where the hydraulic line goes, then put the line in, then put the c-clip in (it slides in w/ plyers and has a LOT of tention put against the actual hole.)
Well, the damned line wont stay in, and I am thinking that there is supposed to be a fitting (The old slave cyl. looks like it had a fitting, but it is broken off )
So.. what the hell do I do?
Thanx,
Matt

 

Ok, I called Advanced Auto Parts and there is *supposed* to be a fitting on the slave cylinder hose, but that fitting is now broken so I think I need a completely new line

 

The hard brake line itself (on the car) holds a captive nut. This nut threads into the slave cylinder and presses the flared end of the hard line against an opposite flare on the inside of the slave cylinder. That's how it seals up- no o-rings, no gaskets. Metal on metal (although both metals are relatively soft).

If you twised up the hard line on the car to the point it kinked or crushed you need to replace that line with a new one. You can get them pre-bent and flared with the nuts already on them or you can "build your own" with a tubing bender, tubing cutter, and brake line flare tool (plus the brake tubing and nuts, obviously).

There is a second fitting on the slave cylinder- a nut with a little hose nipple on the end of it. That's the bleeder valve. It doesn't attach to anything. It's how you bleed the air out of the cylinder when you finally get it all back together before you drive it.

The big c-clip thing, I THINK, is the weird retaining system that GM used on some cars to hold the slave cyliner to the brake backing plate (most GM drum brakes it bolted directly to the backing plate using 2 small bolts). The "c-clip" should have the open side pointing DOWN towards the axle tube, the "fingers" on the side of it grab onto the slave cylinder itself. Once everything is together and oriented properly you put a nut-and-bolt combination through the 2 holes on the open sides of the c-clip and tighten it down some- that applies pressure to everything and keeps the slave cylinder from moving around.

 

^Oh why thank you Damon
So I guess I'm looking for a new slave-cylinder tube