171 Master cylinder

[JH27N0B]

Back in the early 2000s I used to find NOS ones in aftermarket boxes including Bendix on eBay for cheap, and sometimes find nice cores there too.  Been a long time since I was able to buy one there as the few that turn up bid up high!
I never found one at a swap meet.
When I bought my T/A in '78, it had what I found out years later to be an aftermarket MC on it.
When I bought my convertible in '97 it had what I learned a year or two after I bought the car, to have a 9171 on it.  Date coded October of '69, about a month before the car's SBD, it's almost certainly the one installed on the line! Car had nearly 70,000 miles when I bought it, and had sat for some time before the guy I bought it from restored it, so it's surprising the original part was still with the car!

[340challconvert]

My 1975 dated MC 171 unit. Same casting number as the original.

[340challconvert]

My Notes on the 171 Master Cylinder  from various sources!

Explanation of Brake Masters 2229171 casting numbers
The master cylinders with 2229171 casting numbers (Chrysler number 2944453) were only used on cars manufactured summer '69 to summer '70, the date code decoding information I have given cannot be true since he has found numbers that would translate into being from later years like '74 and '75. (Referring to RAM MAN info)

If my translation of his post is accurate, then I think he has a fundamental misunderstanding of the life cycle of OEM master cylinder manufacture.
A master cylinder is considered a wear part, just like a brake drum, rotor, wheel cylinder, etc. It is a part that was expected to wear out or go bad on a regular basis and thus need to be replaced.
Therefore, production of 2229171 master cylinders did not grind to a halt after the last '70 Barracudas and Challengers rolled off the line in the summer of '70.
The disc brake master cylinder for these applications was one year, two car lines, only, and therefore was not high enough volume to justify the aftermarket brake companies tooling up to manufacture their own versions of this part.
OEM Bendix is the only company that ever made them.
They sold them to Chrysler to sell as part number 2944453, and to other companies like Raybestos RM, Wagner and Master Brakes. To this day sometimes an old inventory of some of these brands of brake parts will turn up and something like a 2229171 or 2229191 casting number NOS master cylinder will turn up in one of those dusty old boxes.
These companies each had their own numbering systems, for example,
if you find a Raybestos RM MC36393 master cylinder sitting on a table at a swap meet, grab it! (or better yet, send it to me!) It's a 2229171.

Bendix kept manufacturing these master cylinders as long as demand was enough to make it profitable to continue making them. For the 2229171, from what I have been able to figure out, they were made for around 9 years before they stopped. I have never seen one with a date code later than '77 or '78.
From my days working at the company that sold Raybestos and Napa United, I can tell you from sales forecasts and histories, that the sale volumes of master cylinders would be peak out 3-5 years after a car's model year. After 5 years or so, sales would drop off as numbers of cars from that model year on the road would decrease from accidents, wearing out, rusting out, etc.
Thus, the most common date codes that I see on 2229171 master cylinders are from '73 and '74.
Which is exactly what we would expect to see...
Some of the filler caps provide further evidence as to when these master cylinders were manufactured. During the '70 model year, the caps were stamped "USE ONLY SAE J1703 BRAKE FLUID". I have had NOS 2229171 master cylinders with "9 ###", "0 ###", and "1 ###" date codes that have this callout on the lid. On every one with "2 ###", "3 ###", and so on, that I have had the opportunity to inspect, the cap is always blank. They stopped stamping this callout at some time in '71, so that correlation is further evidence of the date coding system.

I have seen similar evidence with the A body disc (2225541 casting number) and B body disc (2226821 casting number) which both used the same cap (not the same cap as used on '9171's and '9191's though).
In ones with early '69 date codes and earlier, the caps say "USE ONLY SAE 70 R3 BRAKE FLUID", and by mid to late '69 and later date coded examples the caps had the "J1703" callout.
There is actually another date code found on these master cylinders, which is cast into the casting.
This number is proceeded and followed by the imprint of a screw head, as this is the casting date code, and was cast in by means of a metal insert with the code that was attached to the pattern with screws prior to the sand molds being made from the pattern for a particular run of castings.(the numbers found on the side of the casting were stamped in at assembly).
I have never studied this casting date code in detail to fully understand it. I did once sell a '69 date coded B body master cylinder to a Moparts member here, and he emailed me a month or so later telling me how he'd looked at this casting date code and translated it, and that it was 2 months or so before the assembly date code, which certainly makes sense.
So, I hope this all "flies" now. 
The disc brake Mopar master cylinders from '67-'71 are pretty well understood now I think.
I still haven't figured out some details of the drum brake master cylinders used on just about all of the millions of '67-'70 Mopar drum brake cars and light trucks made.

There are 4 different casting numbers (actually 2 different casting numbers, one casting letters(AANF), and one with apparently nothing)observed on this style, 2 different styles and locations of date codes depending on which casting number, production that took place in 3 decades (60's, '70's, and '80's) confusing the date coding issue (was that "7" 1967, 1977 or was it 1987??) and the apparently controversial issue of black e coating observed on some NOS and used castings, were the ones installed on the cars originally black e coated or bare cast iron?
Hopefully someday these will be fully understood, as they are the most commonly used master cylinders from "back in the day".
___________________________________________________________________________
2nd article   01/24/16
First off, are you sure your master cylinder is the original one? The 70 E body disc brake master cylinder is a one year only, E body only part, and is rare and valuable.
You can identify it by the casting number on the bottom, 2229171.
It's a 1" bore and there is no rebuild kit available for it, at least not available for the last 30 or so years unless you can find NOS. There's a kit for the 67-70 A body disc brake master cylinder, but the piston is too short. You can carefully remove the seals though, and use them to rebuild the original pistons from a 2229171.
There is no aftermarket replacement master cylinder that is accurate for a 70 E body disc brake.
I've used Raybestos MC36283 which is a B body master cylinder and has a 1-1/8" bore. I've also used the master cylinder for 71-74 disc brake E bodies, MC36307, and it works OK too.
The Mopar drum brake master cylinder from that era has a 1" bore, but don't use it on a disc brake car!

Brake and Equipment Warehouse in MN is my recommendation to sleeve and rebuild 2229171s. 

[JH27N0B]

Looks like stuff I posted on Moparts, I'm the guy who used to be an engineer at the company that made Napa and Raybestos brake parts!

[340challconvert]

Looks like stuff I posted on Moparts, I'm the guy who used to be an engineer at the company that made Napa and Raybestos brake parts!

ff
Cool. Your material had a lot of good information on the 171 master that I did not know!

[JH27N0B]

Well it's sort of my fault these are so expensive.  After I sorted out all the info on correct casting numbers for Mopar master cylinders from vintage research records at my old work, and got the word out, all of a sudden everyone was beating the bushes trying to find correct MCs for their cars!:looney:
it's a little rewarding to me though, to see correct parts on most restored Mopar muscle cars in recent times.  Back in the 90s when I first started figuring it out, almost every restored car I'd see would have an aftermarket MC on it, and many times I'd spot a drum brake one on a disc brake car. Not any more!

[340challconvert]

Hey JH27
In re-reading your material, I noticed there are two dates marked on my Master Cylinder.
The casting date on the bottom of my 171 master reads as 270 - February 1970
with a stamped date on the side from 1975.
So apparently, way back when, this was an original master from a 1970 car that was rebuilt in 1975 and sold as a replacement unit.

[anlauto]

This is why we need a accurate reproduction of the 171 and 191 master cylinders.

[Jim AAR]

My Notes on the 171 Master Cylinder  from various sources!

Explanation of Brake Masters 2229171 casting numbers
The master cylinders with 2229171 casting numbers (Chrysler number 2944453) were only used on cars manufactured summer '69 to summer '70, the date code decoding information I have
I've used Raybestos MC36283 which is a B body master cylinder and has a 1-1/8" bore. I've also used the master cylinder for 71-74 disc brake E bodies, MC36307, and it works OK too.
The Mopar drum brake master cylinder from that era has a 1" bore, but don't use it on a disc brake car!

Brake and Equipment Warehouse in MN is my recommendation to sleeve and rebuild 2229171s.

I have also been using the MC36307 Master Cylinder since 1980 when I had to replace my OEM one in 1980 as it was already obsolete and was already crossed up with MC36307 and I have had no issues with it.

Wish I would have known then that this was a 1 year only 1970 part. Exchanged it as a core for $10.00 

[JH27N0B]

Hey JH27
In re-reading your material, I noticed there are two dates marked on my Master Cylinder.
The casting date on the bottom of my 171 master reads as 270 - February 1970
with a stamped date on the side from 1975.
So apparently, way back when, this was an original master from a 1970 car that was rebuilt in 1975 and sold as a replacement unit.

I've never been able to decipher the numbers cast on the bottom of these castings.  I just looked at a couple MCs:
191 NOS stamped date code 2 353. Casting "code" 304
171 NOS stamped date code 3 173  casting "code" 051
171 off my 'vert thought to be original, stamped date code 9 261 casting "code" 170
See a pattern here?  Neither do I, though I see each number is lower than the day of the stamped date code.  So maybe they cast the day and not the year in the bottom?  The 191 casting was cast on the 304th day and used in an assembly made on the 353rd day for example?
Regardless, casting date is not the important date code.  Other than it needs to be before the car's assembly.  We've seen examples of castings that apparently sat for some time before being machined and used.  Weren't there a bunch of 71 hemi cars with blocks cast years before the '71 model year manufacture?

[6bblgt]

  casting date # on bottom is just day of year

cast 170 Thursday 6/19/69 (+91 days) assembled 9 261 Thursday 9/18/69
cast 304 Monday 10/30/72 (+49 days) assembled 2 353 Monday 12/18/72
cast 051 Tuesday 2/20/73 (+122 days) assembled 3 173 Friday 6/22/73

cast 270 Friday 9/27/74 (+145 days) assembled 5 050 Wednesday 2/19/75

[340challconvert]

Hey JH27
In re-reading your material, I noticed there are two dates marked on my Master Cylinder.
The casting date on the bottom of my 171 master reads as 270 - February 1970
with a stamped date on the side from 1975.
So apparently, way back when, this was an original master from a 1970 car that was rebuilt in 1975 and sold as a replacement unit.

I've never been able to decipher the numbers cast on the bottom of these castings.  I just looked at a couple MCs:
191 NOS stamped date code 2 353. Casting "code" 304
171 NOS stamped date code 3 173  casting "code" 051
171 off my 'vert thought to be original, stamped date code 9 261 casting "code" 170
See a pattern here?  Neither do I, though I see each number is lower than the day of the stamped date code.  So maybe they cast the day and not the year in the bottom?  The 191 casting was cast on the 304th day and used in an assembly made on the 353rd day for example?
Regardless, casting date is not the important date code.  Other than it needs to be before the car's assembly.  We've seen examples of castings that apparently sat for some time before being machined and used.  Weren't there a bunch of 71 hemi cars with blocks cast years before the '71 model year manufacture?

So the casting date on the bottom of my 1975 assembled unit of 270 indicates April 5th, 1975.  Ok then, 

I'm just having fun dating the parts as I remove them.  Not important for me to have everything date correct for my "driver" Challenger

[6bblgt]

So the casting date on the bottom of my 1975 assembled unit of 270 indicates April 5th, 1975.  Ok then, 

I'm just having fun dating the parts as I remove them.  Not important for me to have everything date correct for my "driver" Challenger

how are you getting 270 = April 5th, 1975   

[340challconvert]

So the casting date on the bottom of my 1975 assembled unit of 270 indicates April 5th, 1975.  Ok then, 

I'm just having fun dating the parts as I remove them.  Not important for me to have everything date correct for my "driver" Challenger

how are you getting 270 = April 5th, 1975   :notsure

If they cast the day only on the bottom casting date for my 1975 stamped MC, the 270 th day of 1975 would be April 5th. If the cast date has month and year, would 270 = Feb. 1970? I originally thought it was a 1970 unit that was remanufactured and resold in 1975.  What would be accurate?

It looks like there is no correlation between the 3 digit casting number on the bottom and the stamped date code on the side of the master?
Basically my 5 050 stamped date indicates assembly on the 50th day of 1975.

[6bblgt]

April 5th would be the 95th (095) day of 1975

if it was assembled on 050 that would be February 19, 1975
if it was cast on 270 that would be before February 19,1975 & would indicate 270th day of 1974 = September 27, 1974