brake MC

[shawnBaek89]

Hi all, this is my first time to write sth on this FSAE forums. you guys are really experts and i'm learning lots and lots of things! i really appreciate that!

i'm a member of formula racing team called KORA(Kookmin Racing) at Kookmin Univ in South Korea and in charge of pedal box.

what i'm wondering is a brake master cylinder.

i'm thinking of buying an Integral Reservoir Compact Master Cylinder from Wilwood. but i'm not sure if it's Ok for brake MC.

does anyone out there use this for the brake MC or have any thoughts for this MC?

i would really appreciate your comments! thank you!

[Drew Price]

Yes, those are a common choice on FSAE / FS cars.

Is there something that makes you think it wouldn't be rules compliant? The braking system requirements are pretty well laid out in the rules. The only requirement is that for single port master cylinders you must have two of them, so that the braking system has a redundancy of one circuit develops a leak. The other way to meet this rule is with a 'tandem' master cylinder like is used in virtually all production road cars, but you must use either two separate fluid reservoirs or a single reservoir with a divider between the fluid supply for each circuit so that a leak in one circuit will not drain ALL the fluid out of the system, only the fluid for that circuit.

Using two small independent master cylinders is almost always what teams do because you can have one cylinder actuate the front wheels and the other actuate the rear wheels, and by sizing the master cylinders and using a balance bar you can easily adjust the brake bias from front to rear, which should be one of your primary design considerations for sizing all of the bores for the hydraulic components.

Hope this helps, welcome to the forum.

[Francis Gagné]

I think the question was arising as they are not identified as being brake master cylinder per se. They sell them as perfect for clutch and other low volume applications. They might be good for the fsae application though, I would advise you to contact Wilwood to validate the pressure limit of these master cylinder and compare with your brake system estimations. You should also validate that you will have enough stroke, at 1.4" I don't think it would be problematic, but It is always safer to validate than assume!

I don't recall any team using them, but it does not mean it does not work, it only means you might have to buy one and bench test it. At this price point it isn't much a big of a deal if it doesn't pan out!

Good luck!