Brake Booster Question???

[blackknight]

I am building a pro touring 78 firebird.

I have the Baer 13 track kit, Lowered car 2.5 inches, Have 17x9.5 with 275 rubber in front, and 17x11 with 315 rubber in the rear. I currently have a 15/16 bore master from baer. It is leaking so I am going to replace it with a 1 inch willwood.

I have the stock 11 inch booster that is tired. I am looking to upgrade the booster. I am looking for some input from you guys.

Obviously the less money spent the better. Should I go hydroboost (Does the extra pressure cause leak problems in the brake lines???) I have been to alot of car shows and only saw one show car with a hydroboost..they dont seem to be to popular. Or should I go with a dual 7inch or a single eight?? The other thing is...the willwood is a large master so with the double booster with it hit the hood because the factory setup with the single 11 and master is kinda close.

Or should I do detroit speed set up form a late model camaro. It will fit a 78, it is made for it. here is the link. the price is also reasonable.
http://www.detroitspeed.com/1970-1981%20Camaro-Firebird-Products/050102-brk-bstr.html
And since it is a double 9inch, it should give me proper pedal feel and pressure, even better then the 11inch.

Any input or experience with the booster in a similar car would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[PARKERRS]

I'm running the 13" bear track kit front and 12" street kit on rear of my '73. I'm using a 1-1/8 master from a late 70's- early 80's vette.

I went with Hydraboost and haven't looked back, best investment I made brake wise. I have no problem with leaks in the three years I've been running it. Performance is absolutely astounding and feedback is good, much better than with a vacuum boost.

One caveat is if you are going to auto-x or track the car. You will need a large power steering cooler, preferably a trans cooler since it has higher flow rating and larger capacity.

Call Paul at Hydratech and he can set you up.

[chr2002ca]

Well, it sounds like you can't just buy a dual 8" or dual 9" booster because you said it would cause your new Wilwood 1" MC to hit your hood. So if that's the case, I guess you only have 3 options for boosted brakes: buy the Detroit Speed late model setup, go with Hydroboost, or buy another stock style 11" booster. Hydroboost will give you plenty of boost and will allow you to eliminate engine vacuum requirements from the equation, but I've heard from some(opinions vary) that it doesn't provide accurate feedback or that it's too 'touchy'. Otherwise, most people seem fairly happy with it. I think I remember reading that the Hydroboost setup works best with a 1 1/8" bore master cylinder though, so you might have to swap out the new Wilwood MC that you currently have if you want your Hydroboost setup to be 'ideal'. I might be wrong about that though, can't remember. Detroit Speed makes great stuff so you typically can't go wrong there. You'd just have to sell your Wilwood which shouldn't be too difficult as they're rather popular. Or, the cheapest route would just be to put a stock-style replacement booster on there. It's interesting that you were previously running a 15/16" bore master cylinder with a power brake setup. I haven't seen that before. Usually the minimum bore size is 1" for a boosted setup. Whatever you decide, best of luck! Getting the brakes right can be challenging.

[blackknight]

Thank you for the input guys. I was originally leaning towards the Hydroboost, but it is at least double the price of of a good booster and master. Plus besides buying a good pump and the booster, based on what everyone has said you also need to buy a cooler and p/s filter. It is alot of extra money and has alot for possibilities for leaks and such. I am sure it is a great set up, but i think a good booster set up is right for me. It is driven on the street 90% of the time and it is much simpler of a design. All I have to do it check that the double 9 from detroit speed fits between my g-braces up front. It should.

as for the 15/16 that I had for the master, that was the supplied master that came with the kit. i called for info to see what size it was for future reference if i needed to replace it..and he said it is 15/16. I was surprised too.

[Pete68]

I used the C5 Corvette (remember that's a 1997-2004 vette) master cylinder in my 68 Camaro. Hard to get much better brakes than a modern Corvette. Looks just like the DSE, in fact I think it is. It’s made of lightweight aluminum, and the master cylinder is clear plastic so you can see the fluid level. Cast iron master cylinders suck, they rust which can cause leakage between the internal rubber seals, eventually leading to a mushy pedal.

But get a used one and save a few hundred.

You will need to cut the C5 brake pedal push rod and re-tap the end that I cut it so it will work with the old Camaro brake pedal, this just takes some measuring, then shim the booster at the firewall to get the correct spacing and to make sure it clears the hood, takes a bit of measuring and trial and error but is easy. You may need to shim the booster a bit so it angles down more, mine hit the hood a little. Be sure to use two nuts to hold the rod where it attaches to the pedal and use red Locktite to make sure it does not come loose.

I bought the master cylinder on ebay, it was $140 with the booster

This master cylinder will give you great pedal feel and feedback, which is really nice to have on an old car. Pedal feel is as good as my Porsche, I could not believe it when I first drove it.

And here is one more reason to use the modern vette master cylinder, it has an electrical connector next to the clear plastic reservoir which is a low level warning. You can splice this warning wire into the original Camaro brake warning wire that goes to the proportioning valve. This will warn you if the brake level gets low!! This connector is $51 dollars at the chevy dealer but I found hundreds of them at the local junk yard, just find a nice clean one, it cost me 80 cents!

Here is one on eBay for $150 as of Jan 18, 2011:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/97-04-C5-Corvette-Power-Brake-Booster-Master-Cylinder-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem4cf244bcddQQitemZ33048 2105565QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccesso ries

Less money spent the better...and better OE quality too, but maybe not as pretty. : )

[amargari]

I used a C5 master and booster in my 73 Camaro build. I didn't need to cut the pushrod at all. I measured the rod length and it was the exact same length as my original booster. You need to make a bracket to mount the booster because it isn't a direct bolt in. There are pictures of my install at the following link.

http://www.apiem.com/camaro/C5Brakes20081106.asp

[blackknight]

Thank you for the link. I am amazed how many people have used the corvette set up. I am happy everyone is giving it great reviews. I dont have a welder...I am just going to go with the DSE booster and master with bracket already made for my car. 400 bucks aint bad. I just have to make sure it fits between my g braces up front. Thanks for all your input everyone.