UK Car Repair: Brake Master Cylinder?, flair line, brake master cylinder

Question
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Followup To John
  After sending you my original question, I checked the brake fluid level in the resivour and it was very low. I immediately checked for any leaks around the wheels or lines and did not see any brake fluid. I filled the resivor with fluid and they still did not pump up. The fluid in the resivor had to go some where. Do you have any advice? Thank you for responding so quickly and expertly. I will definetly follow your advice and all your reccomendations on the kit and rebuild Thank you again. Dale

Answer
Take the time to go through the steps. Don't try to jump to any one answer, it's a process. It runs on information. Take it step by step. I think you need to put this thing up on stands all the way around if you haven't already.

First, bench bleed the system to establish if you can get pressure on the master you have. It is far easier than try to find a leak with pressure to help you.

Start by looking in all the places you haven't looked.
Take the wheels off; see if the wheel cylinders are leaking. Check the calipers to see if the seam between the two halves is leaking. Don't try to tighten the bolts that connect the two halves. Try checking the boot around the pedal rod to see if the main seal is leaking on the plunger. Squeeze all the metal lines with pliers. See if they collapse or crack. Check for pitting and stains on the lines or body. If the undercarriage is dirty to the point where you can tell get out the super clean and give it a bath. You might find a few more problems while you're at it. If you still can't find a leak then take the lines out and replace them. Especially if they are the same ones it has had on it since 1975. Moss sells a kit for cheap money.

Try all that and then get back to me. The cost to bench bleed assuming you have no flair nut wrenches, bleeding lines, or fluid... is $36.00 at a local NAPA for a set of flair nut wrenches , a gallon of fluid , and one 20" bubble flair line. Don't aggravate yourself on where the fluid went.
Take your time and you'll find where the fluid went.

Let me know how it all works out and don't hesitate to drop me a line if you still have questions.

John