Tick Adjustable Master Cylinder install how to with pics...
I just installed my tick master and I must say that I am impressed. The pedal is very firm, and everything seems to be working like it should be... finally. I had a stock 98 master cylinder of 135k miles, and needless to say my monster clutch didn't really like that one very much. It was loosing pressure anyway. You could pull popcorn kernel sized air bubbles while mity vacking it all day long, so it must have been sucking air from somewhere.
This thing shifts great now. At a dead stop you can shift into reverse or first without any extra effort. Shifting around town is noticeably better, and shifting with some RPM is
much easier. This should really help to finish off the ol' 10 bolt properly
Install Notes:
All of the pictures were taken
after I installed the Tick Master... sorry
The install was
really easy. I did it completely by myself in about 3 hours. I could have done it in about an hour and a half if I hadnt of run into a few small setbacks that were my own fault, and I was going pretty slow just so I could try to figure out exactly what was involved with changing this thing anyway! I couldnt find any howto's on this thing, so I decided to just go do it. It was a little risky feeling though... it's my only ride until my wife gets off work, and I had to drive to
my work (Harbor Freight tools Manager) to install it due to a really unstable driveway and a busy apt complex. SO!... I had to finish it or I wouldnt have any wheels,
Tools required... for me:
7mm socket
deep and regular well 1/2 (or 13mm)
extension
13mm wrench
14mm wrench
Mity Vac
deep well 7/16 1/4" drive socket
Various flat head screw drivers
Flashlight
Needle Nose Pliers
Cutting Pliers
Floor Jack/Stands
Leatherman with can opener
Are all of these items necessary? No. But each one made
my life easier.
Alright... Who's ready to change this master cylinder? Where in the hell is it? Good question. You can't see it, and if you can its because you don't have any power brakes
Its hidden way back under the brake booster, but don't wory. You won't be doing much work from this angle. All the wrenching happens
inside the car.
First thing is to get the kick panel out of the way. Remove the two 7mm bolts that are on the underside of the dash. Once they were out I was able to pull the panel that's hiding all the wiring/pedals/unicorns/etc. With this thing out you can finally see whats going on behind the scenes under the dash. If you look right on the firewall you can see the master cylinder sticking thru, with the long shiny rod that connects to the top of the clutch pedal. You're probably laying on your back now with your hands contorted above your head as you fumble around with things trying to figure out what to do next. Get your flashlight situated to where you can see whats going on
Notice that little clip holding the shiny rod onto the clutch pedal? Its got to come off. A little prying with a screw driver and it flies off, making it possible to remove it... later.
Now do you see those two 1/2" nuts on the firewall... the ones that appear to be holding the master on. You guessed it! They hold it in place... and those are actually the
only things holding it in place. Use the deepwell socket and spin 'em off there. The studs sticking thru the firewall there apear to be studs, or something sticking out of the master. Its actually a U bolt, and for me it was a bitch to get it off. You can actually reach behind the brake booster from under the hood and grab ahold of this thing, but chances are it wont go anywhere... so stop trying. If you crawl back under the dash and look a little closer you will notice that the bottom right stud (U bolt) actually has a little hicky that keeps it from moving, sorta like a lock washer, but only flat/star like/ and just in the way. What you probably
didn't notice (if you were hammering on it or REALLY trying to pull on it from under the hood) is that the fangled bracketry that makes up the clutch pedal assy is actually caught in the threads too... making it
really hard to push the U bolt thru. I tried and tried to pry this bracket up so that it didnt interfere with the U bolt, but it was too stuborn. Somehow I accidentally ended up prying it
over the rod so that it was not even touching it anymore. This allowed me to use the can opener
on my leatherman to mangle up that little locking hikey so it would come off. There wasnt anything preventing the top left side from moving. Slide the rod off of the top of the clutch pedal.
Climb under the hood and just reach under there for the u bolt. With little convincing it, it should come right out. You've now passed the point of no return.
Now's when you want to get the car in the air enough to slide under it from the drivers side. If you look up on the drivers side of the tranny you will notice a braided/hose covered line going right into the side of the tranny. See that yellow looking brassy thing on the end of the hose kinda inside the transmission? Thats the connector. There should be a white looking plastic ring on it. Get your screw driver (or can opener
) and push that little plastic ring toward the transmission. You want it to slide in equally all the way around the connector. What that little thing is doing is folding up these little frail aluminum spikes that keep the hose from backing out. Its a little like the quils of a porcupine. Pulling on the hose is like petting the porcupine backwards. Pushing the plastic ring in folds everything down so it doesnt catch. Be very careful on this step. Screwing up this would mean you just screwed up the slave cylinder. That means dropping the trans... Note the position/route this hose is taking up to the master. You'll want to feed the tick hose back down the same way.
Once that hose is out of the trans, go back under the hood and pull the fluid resivior hose off of the master cylinder. Once that is off it is no longer connected to the car. A little snatching and it comes
right out.
When you look at the stock master and compare it to the tick, you'll see that massive piece of aluminum. Thats going to make it a little more difficult putting it back in. Peek back under the hood. Notice that wiring harness that snakes from the firewall... kinda under the brake booster, and around towards... towards the front I think? That bundle of wire is going to prevent the tick from slipping in. If you notice, there is a plastic clip/stud holding the wires to a bracket... seen from the resivior side of the booster. I tried prying that plastic stud up enough to pop it out of the braket... but found it easier just to go into the wheel well (behind the tire) and just cut it off. Should you? Probably not... Im sure there is a better way. No matter what, though, you'll want to move those wires.
Assuming you freed the wires from the clutches of their bracket, go ahead and pull on them lightly so that they come up infront of the booster. That should give you the room needed to finagle the tick towards the stock location on the firewall. Make sure you attatch the fluid resivior hose onto the the tick before you try pushing it to where you cant see it anymore (use a ziptie to secure it in place), and be sure to remove the two bolts that are fastened into the back of the master... those you'll need to bolt it up from
inside the car. You'll also want to wait to put the long rod on the back of it until you inside the car. I don't think you could get everything to fit under the booster with that part on anyway.
I didn't have too much trouble lining up the holes. Just keep working it from under the hood until it looks like its lined up from inside the car. You'll know you're getting close when the threaded rod on the cab side of the master is sticking thru the hole it was intended to stick thru.
I found it easier to use a 3/8 extension with a shallow 13mm socket to hold the hardware while I threaded them into the holes. The same rules apply to threading stuff here. Don't go hog wild on one side until you
know the other is in... and in
correctly. Even though this thing looks beast, I wouldnt want to strip out or cross thread anything. Take your time lining it up and don't force anything. Once they thread in easily go ahead and tighten them down equally. I didn't torque them down, just hand tight.
Another happy Tick M/C customer and a sub-par install How to 
Did I miss anything? If there is some worthless advice here please speak up, so I can correct it. 
