How can I get rid of my brake booster? I've seen meany race cars with only the master cylinder (sometimes 2 of them, 1 for front and 1 for rear I'm guessing)

 

Just out of curiosity, why? My booster went out a little while ago and before I replaced it, It was damn near impossible to stop without planning WAY AHEAD, and there was certainly no "stop on a dime."

 

The key to converting to manual brakes is relocating the point where the master cylinder push rod attaches to your brake pedal "lever". It needs to be raised to increase the leverage ratio, which increases the pressure applied to the MC. An adapter plate needs to be fabricated, so you can bolt the master cylinder to it. The plate also should raise the MC the same amount as the pivot point on the brake lever was raised, to keep your pushrod in line. I prefer to use the Mopar style MC's, due to their compactness and the lines come out facing away from the engine side. Ed Quay makes a kit, but I had a local Super Stock chassis builder fab up all my stuff.

Do a search - this subject has been covered numerous times in the past.

 

Here's what mine looks like:

 

hey...
how does the manual brakes feel? i had an s10 v8 lt1 that had manual brakes in it..the pedal was very hard but it stopped on a dime ( converted it to 4 wheel disc ). im going to have to manual brakes mt 86 w/ the bbc 454 conversion b/c of the room. what mopar m/c is that that would be perfect for what im doing!

 

My brakes work great. I'm using a Mopar Performance master cylinder, Wilwood front brakes, and Chrysler drum brakes on the rear. The Mopar MC is a very popular unit that a lot of people convert over to. They were used on many different Chrysler products some years ago, but I'm not sure what makes/models. A lot of other aftermarket companies sell this same style master cylinder with their name on it (Wilwood, Strange, etc). Also, be aware that they come in different bore sizes - I'm using the small 15/16" diameter in my car.

 

do you think that m/c would support 4 wheel disc brakes. the rear calipers are off of a late modle cadillac ( bigger then stock) i have to make sure this things gonna stop!

 

It's hard to say, especially when you start to consider all the different variables. I originally got a 1 1/16" bore MC, and I had to literally stand on the pedal to get the thing to stop. I swapped in the smaller bore MC, and it works great, but keep in mind that this is with my combination. Generally speaking though, calipers require more fluid volume, so you might want to get a bigger bore MC than my 15/16".

 

found the search button and did some digging on google. found a ton of info (what a suprise right?), but i just can't seem to figure out how these brake balance bars work.. i feel so dumb right now, been looking at pics of them for about an hour now and still don't get how they work..

 

I ran across a kit to convert to manual brakes here it`s at the bottom of the page on the right..it looks like the same adapter motor city mike has on his

 

I read an article in CHP a few months ago that mentioned the new braking system used on all the newer gm trucks with the bigger engines. They dont make enough vacuum I think to power the brakes well so theres a pump that runs off the power steering pump to supply the brakes with pressure. The power this thing puts out is huge and I think this eliminates the brake booster too

 

That sounds to me like an updated version of HydroBoost. Do you have a link to the article?

The HydroBoost system has been around for a long, long time. GM has been using it in their heavy trucks since like the late 70's or early 80's. It's also a total P.O.S. They're prone to leakage, they go through power steering pumps like I go through tires, and if you break a belt you can't stop the vehicle. They're also expensive to repair....you'd be much better off with a regular booster and a belt-driven vacuum pump.

 

I was watching horsepower TV the other day, and they had this new part that uses an electric pump to provide the extra boost...

And the PSI was like 4x what out current booster provides...

Might be an option (was an easy install)