brake problem--need help!

[lnirenberg]

When I bought my '61 Bel Air it had a cheap front disk rear drum setup that wasn't quite doing the job. I swapped it out to a 4 wheel kit from SSBC and that would do it. I drove a bit last fall and thought the pads the setup came with were too hard and thought I had the fix in a softer set. Drove it last week for the 1st time this year and there was no improvement. The car is at a very good shop in MA and they feel the booster is undersized. The car came with a auxiliary vacuum pump that runs whenever I hit the brake pedal and I had thought this was to boost the power brakes. Now I have no idea what the pump is doing. The problem with a larger diameter booster is that it will hit the driver’s side valve cover. Thanks in advance for any ideas you have for fixing this. (see attached pic)

[ProdigyCustoms]

That ooks like a single 7". I won't even use a dual 7". You need a dual 8".

[lnirenberg]

Any one have any experience good or bad with either ABS dual power max or hydraulic braking system?

[Apogee]

A single-7" booster, if that is what you have, is basically like having manual brakes IMHO. Depending on the vacuum levels and auxiliary pump, it could be worse than manual brakes in terms of feel if the master cylinder was not sized appropriately.

What bore size is your master cylinder? What does your pedal feel like? High and firm or low and soft? What friction compound pads are you running? You may be able to get perfectly serviceable brakes with a simple master cylinder swap rather than dropping the $$$ on a hydro-boost unit.



Tobin
KORE3

[Skip Fix]

Nice EFI W motor! Is that a converted Edelbrock intake?

[TnBlkC230WZ]

As Frank said, the booster is to small but the corret pads will make a huge difference. Do you know what is on it. Now?

[lnirenberg]

Nice EFI W motor! Is that a converted Edelbrock intake?

Yes

The SSBC brakes come with very hard Hawk pads. I put in a much softer pad which didn't help at all. The pedal is firm and not bottoming but very scary stopping distances. I ordered the CPP hydroboost with the aluminum master w/ built in proportioning valve and I expect this will do the trick. At this point I have a 4000 lb paper weight so what's another $900 down the black hole trying to get road worthy,