They are finally back in business!

[raygreenwood]

About 1995-96....I used to get all of my clutch slave rebuild seals from a company called SEAL JET. They had a wonderful CNC, Austrian built lathe. They would losad in the seal profile...a plug of suitable material...and make perfect seals of any type....on the spot! They also made my radius arm centering rings from delrin. They also made outer link bushings for me. The draw back was this.....the materials had to be a hard enough durometer to be machined. Also...a one off seal with short notice...like 24-72 hours....was about $60.

They have been bought. They have hundreds of seal profiles....and they stock the proper seal materials for our use. They also advertize much better material softness capabilities. I will contact them about a group buy. I will also spec/draw out a boot for the slave cylinder.My last seal lasted for 3 years...no problems.

The seal will still be slightly stiffer than stock. It means installation will be difficult but do-able. They did not have the ability to make the inner sleeve lip like the shaft seal style on the 412, but they made one with a slightly tighter OD...and they had an EPDM back-up packing.

Now, that being said....the thing the slave needs to run properly for a long time....is an extra machined groove with a 10mm x 1mm thick delrin or teflon packing ring...ahead of the cup. That keeps the piston square in the bore and acts as a wiper of rust and dirt before it contacts the cup. They can make that easily. The skirt of the piston must also be vented with a file..to allow fluid flow to the cup.
Lastly, the cylinder bores must be polished....not cross hatch honed. That kills the seals. Hone them first, polish with 600 grit, polish with 1500 grit...polish with 2000 grit until its smooth. Who is interested?
They also advertize that they can do CNC bronze. Maybe they can do a group buy on idler bushings..;...rebuild bushings for the center link....AND..they can do delrin control arm bushings...I already know that. Ray

[DeathBus]

im interested in any suspension parts!

[vwbill]

Hey Ray, I should be getting the parts for the clutch master cylinder and the seal for the slave cylinder this next week from FAG/FTE. I should be getting all the parts that came in the rebuild kits from them for the master. Only the seal is available for the slave. I'll let you know!
I think it should be about 30bucks for the seal kits; that would be all the seals that came from the kit(including the boot,piston clip, copper washer) for the clutch master plus the cup number I found in my master along with the slave cylinder seal.
Can those guys do the dampering rings for the front axle carrier(big "t" thing) and those donut things?
Thx, Bill

[raygreenwood]

Yeah they can do the donuts. Its actually probably simpler and cheaper to do them by hand the way I did them, and they will look and perform about the same.
When I originally went to this place, their headquarters was in Riverdale GA, just south of Atlanta. I used to get printing press pneumatic cylinder rebuild parts from them. I finally had them make some car parts. They even made rebuild cups for the brake balance valve.
It will probably take about 15 or so of each part to make them "feel" affordable. But on the other hand, if a boot and seal is all thats necessary to make the slave work...and it costs about $90 total...thats not a bad deal. Ray

[Erik H]

Count me in for suspension interests and $ contributions. As for the clutch master and slave, wouldn't the vanagon master/audi slave work-around still be more sound for that "middle of no where" or " the wife has the car for a trip" scenarios.

[raygreenwood]

In the long run, I think the Audi slave system would be a much better and more dependable scenario. It would be installed just like the early 411 slave or the audi set up. It should be solid. The problems with the 411/412 slave are that it was not a great design. To really make it work well, not only do you need all the parts...boot and everything, the cylinder has to be in good shape. Also, the piston needs a method of guiding itself to keep it from cocking in the bore. Its not a big deal...but when the cylinder has been rebuilt once or twice, the tolerances get larger. When the piston tips a couple of thousandths....air can work its way into the system. If the guide ring I'm describing can be made for the original cylinder/piston...I think it will function well. So its 6 of one...half a dozen of the other. Either you have an adaptor plate machine for the audi slave...and always have access to brand new cylinders.....or you machine the piston you have on the 412 slave to modify it...and have to go to someone special for seals. I have also been looking into having the cylinder nickle plated to take up dimensions...and make it smoother. Ray

[raygreenwood]

In the long run, I think the Audi slave system would be a much better and more dependable scenario. It would be installed just like the early 411 slave or the audi set up. It should be solid. The problems with the 411/412 slave are that it was not a great design. To really make it work well, not only do you need all the parts...boot and everything, the cylinder has to be in good shape. Also, the piston needs a method of guiding itself to keep it from cocking in the bore. Its not a big deal...but when the cylinder has been rebuilt once or twice, the tolerances get larger. When the piston tips a couple of thousandths....air can work its way into the system. If the guide ring I'm describing can be made for the original cylinder/piston...I think it will function well. So its 6 of one...half a dozen of the other. Either you have an adaptor plate machine for the audi slave...and always have access to brand new cylinders.....or you machine the piston you have on the 412 slave to modify it...and have to go to someone special for seals. I have also been looking into having the cylinder nickle plated to take up dimensions...and make it smoother. Ray