The master cylinder was revised for the facelift, supposedly to improve brake feel. I have an 03 parts car I’m using for the entire conversion. Is it worth the extra effort to swap the master cylinder over as well, or will the brembos feel ok by themselves on a 1999?

 

If you're using the braided hoses just fit the calipers, they are the feel amplifier, good pads job done, thinking on, not sure but the cruise control on the 99' maybe different to the 03'.

 

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...99-xjr-270406/

Probesport seems to have done the same conversion without the master cylinder.

 

I'll leave the master alone for now and see how they feel. I can always swap over the master later if needed. Sean B makes a great point about the electronics etc. The master comes out with the entire pedal assembly, which is really clever, but may make this swap impossible.

 

I did this on my 99 xjr (Brembo's, oem braided lines) without swapping the master cylinder. I'd say the massive improvement in pedal feel vs the ATE calipers was so good I decided it wasn't worth the hassle of upgrading the master cylinder.

The other thing I would recommend would be to check the 3 bolts that secure the brake booster to the firewall. There is a weather strip between the two that compresses over time, resulting in a more vague feel, where I could actually see the assembly flexing a bit under heavy pedal application. Cranking down on those bolts helped improve feel even further after doing the Brembos.

 

I have the brakes on the car with new hawk HPS pads. After bedding in the brakes and putting some miles on the car I can say that the brakes feel great and are an improvement for sure. They also look freaking amazing with refinished Milans

But... having driven the 2003 parts car around the driveway before taking the wheels and brakes etc. I can say for sure that the later models are an improvement in brake feel. The pedal feel is good with the brakes on the older car, but the travel with this combo is long. The master cylinder does not seem to move quite enough volume for the setup to be perfect. Is is very close though. I'm going to pull the master setup out of the parts car when I have a spare hour and see how difficult it is. The repair manual makes it seem surprisingly easy so maybe I will get around to swapping it over.

 

Did the swap on my 98 many years ago, pedal feel was greatly improved but still mushy. Thought I was getting bleed by on my master, travel was long; replacement cylinder was marginally better feeling; not much. I think the booster changed around 2000, 3 vs 4 hole (my 98 was a 3 bolt booster), although it only shows a 3 vs 4 hole master but not booster change (masters are all 2 hole). You might want to swap the booster over w/ master cylinder, I think new mounting holes are required. My Current 2003 R1 feels much better.