Power Brake Booster Adapter Bracket

[Captainfab]

Here is the power brake booster adapter bracket that I've been making since 1993. This bracket fits 1963-66 Chevy and GMC Pickups, Suburbans and panels and is 100% bolt on using holes already in your firewall. The booster side of the bracket has a 3 3/8" x 3 1/2" hole pattern. Boosters with this pattern are commonly found on S10's and full size pickups, Suburbans, Blazers and Tahoes from 1988 to at least 1998. Of course you will have to join the booster pushrod to your stock MC pushrod that attaches to your brake pedal. This can be done by either threading both ends and using a coupling nut, or by just welding them together once you determine the correct length.

I have had the first of these brackets on my '66 Suburban and have driven over 120,00 miles with no issues. I have also installed these on a couple of local pickups with good results as well. If you are wanting to add hydroboost to your pickup, Suburban or Panel I have the mounting plates that will mount a hydroboost unit to this bracket as well HERE

The price on the bare steel brackets is $57.50 plus a flat $16.25 shipping in the US. If you are located elsewhere contact me for shipping charges. You can also get this bracket in a satin black powder coat for an additional $9.00. This pricing not current and up to date. Mounting hardware is included. To place an order post in this thread, send me a PM or send an email to captainfab454@hotmail.com, and I will give you the ordering and payment instructions and current lead time.

[Captainfab]

Here are some installed pics.

[ljackson]

I have a 64 C-10. Is this setup for a disc/drum? Can I use it for drum/drum until I upgrade the front.
Eugene

[Captainfab]

Originally Posted by ljackson

I have a 64 C-10. Is this setup for a disc/drum? Can I use it for drum/drum until I upgrade the front.
Eugene

Yes you can use it for a drum/drum brake setup. Use of this bracket has no direct effect on your braking system. This bracket simply allows you to add a power brake booster to your truck using a factory brake booster and without drilling more holes in your firewall. My '66 Suburban currently has drums all around with this same bracket. You'll just need to use the correct master cylinder.

Thanks for asking, let me know when you would like to get one.

[joe231]

very cool John!

in the first 2 pics...what master is that?

do you know what older masters are compatible with the 88-98 boosters?

[Captainfab]

The first two pics are of my Suburban. That booster was off of a '70-'72 Impala, but that is basically the same as the '88-'98 pickup one. I haven't tried any of the older masters on the '88-'98 boosters, but I would imagine it wouldn't be anymore difficult than possibly modifying or changing the pushrod. I have one of those boosters at the shop. I'll see if I can find time tomorrow to pull the MC off and take a look.

[struggles]

I'm interested in two of the power steering plates. Will paypal when I have a total, w/ shipping.
Steve

[Captainfab]

Steve I sent you a PM

Thanks
John

[duallyjams]

Will this bracket work with a hydro boost system ?

[Captainfab]

It will with another plate that I will be offering that will be a direct bolt on to this bracket. This way you can use most any GM hydroboost unit just by changing the mounting bracket on the hydroboost itself. The cost on that bracket will be $20.00, and if purchased with this adapter bracket the shipping will be free. The hydroboost units have a 1 5/8" threaded center that attaches them to whatever bracket was needed for the vehicle application. This takes a special socket, which I will provide to customers for a refundable $20 deposit. You will just have to pay the return shipping which can typically be done for ~$5.

An option would be to use a hydroboost from a '88-'98 truck which has the correct mounting pattern, but the hydroboost unit is offset towards the bottom. This would require you to elongate the hole in your firewall and drill a new hole in your brake pedal to attach the pushrod.

[Captainfab]

Here are some pics of one powder coated satin black. I also forgot to mention in my first post (really wish we could edit for more than 5 mins) is that these come with grade 5 hardware.

[Chuck78]

nice looking job as always! Now if you could find a 60-62 w/manual trans, and start making some booster brackets that space the booster far enough off the firewall and with the necessary notch to fit in a Wilwood or similar 1-1/8" bore master for use as clutch master!

[Captainfab]

Originally Posted by Chuck78

nice looking job as always! Now if you could find a 60-62 w/manual trans, and start making some booster brackets that space the booster far enough off the firewall and with the necessary notch to fit in a Wilwood or similar 1-1/8" bore master for use as clutch master!

Do you think there would be a few members that would want a setup like that?

[Chuck78]

Absolutely! The 60-62 uses the combo brake/clutch master, with the holes in the firewall 2.5" apart from each other for the pedal pushrods. To ditch the factory master and upgrade to a dual reservoir brake master and seperate clutch master, you basically have two options that cost $450-$500 - which include a firewall plate, booster bracket, booster, brake master, and seperate clutch master. The other type abandons the factory clutch linkage (factory puts clutch linkage over top of steering column and out the firewall to the engine side of the brake pedal rod), and adds a small Wilwood clutch master directly in front of the clutch pedal and sorta tucked behind the booster on the fender side of the brake setup.

Slepysal just posted about his setup installing the latter, the small compact remote reservoir type, but for those of us who would like to continue using the existing hole in the firewall and corresponding clutch linkage, you basically need to spend the $500 or else use a custom fabricated booster bracket and space your power booster about 4.5" off the firewall, and probably allow a notch in the booster bracket's firewall mounting flange to allow the clutch master to bolt on.

If you use the WIlwood clutch master with integral aluminum reservoir like on soba_03's new setup, the mounting holes are top and bottom, so theres minimal interference. I'm using a 1962 single reservoir brake master (for auto trans trucks) with the 1-1/8" bore, and removing the residual check valve in the master to use as a clutch master, This costs half of the Wilwood unit ($30), and I can order rebuild parts for it at any store. This factory master is the same size as the Wilwood, but the mounting Bolt pattern where it mounts to the firewall is a diagonal one. This might require a larger notch in the bracket, where the bracket flanges out 90 degrees and is flat on the firewall.
The factory master I'm talking about is the one with the rectangular reservoir, not the round ones used on some later models. The round ones were a 1" bore and also put the lines out the wrong side (into the booster if used as clutch). The A1 Cardone # 1034403 that I'm using has the line going straight out the bottom of the front.
Best bet is to use an 8" dual diaphragm booster for this, and they seem to have a 3.5" square bolt pattern. the 67-70 1 tons use a smaller dual diaphragm, but lots of aftermarket hot rod stuff is available, like the one I plan to get from Pirate Jack's.

Here's some pictures:





this is the other option if you want to abandon the factory clutch linkage, and block off the hole in the firewall:
[img]http://www.carolinaclassictrucks.com/mm5/graphics/00000001/BOOSTER/BM1750.JPG


You can see the dimensions of the Wilwood unit on their website.

[Chuck78]

Here's a closeup of the factory single shared reservoir clutch and brake master in case you weren't familiar with the 60-62 clutch setups.



You'd basically have to just space the booster off the firewall about 4.5" or so (depends somewhat on the profile of the back of the booster that is being used, some will allow more clearance), and then notch out the engine side of the bracket's firewall mounting flange, and then all that's left is to extend the brake pedal pushrod. Pirate Jack's sells several pieces that are pushrods and pushrod extenders, and most people could probably just make up a threaded piece that would work, depending on the configuration of the booster's pushrod.

I'm going to use probably the 8" dual diaphragm adjustable pushrod unit from Pirate Jack's for $130. Same thing without an adjustable pushrod is $99. This was just so that I can keep the drums up front for now and use a deep pushrod bore master, and then later readjust it and run a standard shallow pushrod bore master for front disc applications - for when I actually have time to do the crossmember swap.

The 67-70 3/4 and 1 ton trucks used what I believe is an 8" dual diaphragm booster, and it has the correct master cylinder (1-1/8" bore drum/drum) for our trucks if retaining all drums and switching to a safer dual reservoir setup, so I thought about just using that.
part number is A1 Cardone #5471011 w/o master, #501011 w/master. No bracket.
The 1/2 ton 63-66 booster w/vertical bracket almost looks like it'd work just with some spacers, but I think it's a single diaphragm, and without a master, it costs almost as much as the 67-69 dual diaph. w/master. Both of these would need some more pushrod modifications, as they have a socket type and not threaded as far as what I can tell from the pictures. THe Pirate Jack's unit has a threaded pushrod. This would be best.

[Captainfab]

Yes I am familar with the clutch and brake masters on the '60-'62's. I don't have a running driving truck, but I have a couple of cabs here. Years ago I contemplated making a booster bracket for these, but for auto trans applications. I'll take a look at the manual trans application and see what I can come up with.

[Chuck78]

Capt, I sent you a PM yesterday, but I noticed today in my sent messages that it was not there... I hate it when that happens.

I started working on a booster bracket for my 62 so that I can fit a hydraulic clutch in the stock clutch master cylinder location 2.5" to the pass. side of the brake pedal pushrod. I was going to use some random steel that I have laying around to extend the $5 brackets that I bought with the Pirate Jack's 8" dual diaphragm booster, but then I just decided to take a used 89 suburban booster and chop the bracket off of it and graft them together.
I've got it tacked together, but it was 4AM and the neighbors probably don't appreciate a lightning show as I don't like to weld in my cluttered garage. I made it 4-5/8" long, no offset on the angle at all. The clutch master I'll be using is, like I said, a $32 1962 auto trans truck single reservoir brake maser (removing the residual valve), and it requires clearancing the firewall mounting flange of the booster bracket, so I made it so the bracket extended upwards more on the firewall so I'd have an upper bolt location above the clutch master mount, which has the diagonal 2 bolt pattern vs horizontal (or vertical like the $65 Wilwood master of the same physical size).

If you made up a set of brackets like this, and decided on a standard booster to use with them (or even make the brackets slotted like the ones I bought to chop and extend), you could then figure on a pushrod length and fab up that.
The astrovan/safari 85-87/89? boosters are a good looking 9" dual diaphragm booster with a little longer pushrod, and have the short master cyl pushrod for newer masters and most disc/drum masters past the early 70's. The 68 or so 9" truck dual diaphragm booster (look up 68-70 C30/3500 trucks, some burbs and pickups also) is also a great bet, and has the longer master cylinder pushrod for the older masters that still used the deep bore like on a manual brake truck. If doing 4 wheel drums, one would most likely need this type of booster so they can put a deep bore drum brake master on, and also, 71-72 trucks had deep bore masters as well and front discs/rear drums, so this $120 or so booster would be good for both applications as long as you were okay running a master that was only made for 2 years or so on a disc/drum application. The parts stores still can get these no problem. If you switch later, you can always stuff a rag in the booster's master recess, and chop the pushrod off shorter and grind the end down to a nice round. Some boosters have a pushrod that just sits in there in a socket and you can pull it out.

I got the pirate jack's "MBM" brand (aftermarket repro manufacturer) booster because it had a 3/8x24tpi threaded pedal pushrod, and I thought this would be easier to make work, as it's a standard but not so common thread, and bicycle axles on rear coaster brake wheels come in hardened steel 3/8x24tpi, so I thought with some of the rod couplers Pirate Jack';s sells, and maybe one of their pedal rod extensions, I could make that work easily.

I took the manual brake pushrod off mu truck, and although the pin that goes intot he master is slightly tapered, I tapped a 3/8X24 tpi thread on it, but turns out I didn't have enough diameter until about halfway back on the taper to get good thread depth, so the 1-1/8" rod couplers wouldn't thread on far enough to get to the good threads, and I didn't want to chop up my original parts to mod them for this use. So I used their $14 truck pedal rod extension that's a 5" long solid sleeve with 1.6" of female threads on each end, and a heim joint for the pedal pivot with 1-1/2" of male threads on the end of it. re-tapped a longer 3/8x16 rod coupler to 24tpi, threaded onto heim joint all the way, leaving 1/2" left to thread a bicycle axle in. Since the threads were somewhat questionable due to the nature, I'm drilling a hole on the flat on the hex coupler, right at the butt of the two threaded pieces, and plug welding all three together there.

Now for what I would have really done, after doing it... The Pirate Jack's booster takes a slightly narrower master than I realized, so I had to either oversize or elongate my master's bolt holes to fit onto the 3/16" or so narrower bolt pattern. That on top of spending $19 on pushrod parts ($14 on heim joint with long rod coupler, $5 on axle), I think now I would just be inclined to do the following.
My 89 suburban booster pedal pushrod is a thick 1/2" of 5/8 shaft with a big flat that mounts similar to the 62 pedal with a large shoulder bolt with a smaller 3/8 thread. Hole needs drilled slightly larger in this piece, but works. This is about 4" long, and has I think a female 3x8 x 16 thread on it, and then the booster pushrod comes out the same size up to the firewall before it reduces to 5/16 with a ball and socket on the end inside the booster, and attaches to the pedal section of the rod where it has a male 3x8x16 thread. I'd snag this pedal piece, and then use some cold rolled steel bar stock about 1/2" and cut a nice square end on it, and then take a long hardened steel 3/8" hex head bolt and weld the head to the end of the rod, and thread into the 89 suburban booster piece, so that you could have a washer and jamb nut on it for a little adjustment. On the other end at the booster, pushrod has again the flattened out flange for a thru-bolt or clevis pin that looks like it attached to the pedal there, and on the older truck unit, to the pivot linkage. On this end, I would determine the length with bracket and all, and grind two flats on the sides of the end of the rod, and weld two flat pieces of steel to the sides to make the outside portion of the clevis piece, and drill it out and get a clevis pin and cotter from Lowe's.

Also, if you were worried about reducing the pushrod down from 1/2"+ to 3/8 at the end of the booster piece, you could use 1/2" "all thread" threaded rod instead of cold rolled steel round bar stock, and put a 1/2" rod coupler in the middle of that with a jamb nut on either end.

this is the 89 suburban booster that I had laying around, you can see the booster side of the pushrod, and the other piece threads onto it and goes to the pedal. This is also the booster bracket that I had to chop up and graft to the other booster bracket to make one long one. I'm sure Capt Fab could make something much slicker looking with some flat steel plate!

Oh, the pedal pushrods on our trucks are a 7/16 thread, I think 7/16x24 tpi, so it is possible to reuse the same pedal attachment piece if you could find a die or some threaded rod that size. I don;t think I remember seeing that size in my tap & die set.

Food for thought, let me know if anyone else has any ideas or questions, or if you want anymore advice, capt!

The pushrod centers of the stock master are 2.5" apart, and the new clutch master will fit in the stock firewall hole with new mounting holes drilled (theres even an indentation in the firewall there on mine?), but since you are just routing a pushrod through the brake hole in the firewall instead of a large master cylinder bore register piece, you can slide the booster slightly towards the fender before drilling the firewall for the booster bracket, and this gives you a slight bit more clearance if using the $32 1962-3 single res. brake master for clutch. If using the $65 Wilwood master of the same physical size, the bolts are vertical instead of diagonal, so this probably isn't necessary. If changing the angle and not using a heim joint at the pedal, you'd have to then stick a few flat washers under the shoulder bolt at the pedal attachment, or maybe it could move to the other side of hte pedal arm to re-align.

a few S10's used a 9" dual diaphragm booster also, as well as I think 77-80 or 77-81 vettes (different pedal pushrod connection), and many other GM vehicles. I recommend the dual diaphragm for clearance reasons if you have a big block or GMC V6, and also for more stopping power. Keep it simple for the Capt, by sticking with one or two boosters to fab the stuff up for.

Good luck anyone who tries this, and Capt, if you want to try and make these, and need more info from me, let me know. bracket should be about 4-5/8" or so, but if moving the booster 5/8" towards the fender, you could really shrink it down to almost 4" with the particular clutch master and booster I'm using (not the ones I recommended above, need to check the fit of those).

[Chuck78]

{img}http://info.rockauto.com/getimage/getimage.php?imagekey=258979&imageurl=http%3A//www.cardone.com/Imagesftp/54/5471056-01.jpg{/img}

89 burb booster that I stole the other part of the pedal pushrod from, and chopped most of the bracket off of to graft to mine. These boosters were used 81-91 on trucks and vans, so that's a lot of vehicles in the salvage yard that you could look through to find the half that attaches to the pedal, if you choose to go that route.

[Captainfab]

Sent you a PM Chuck......

[Chuck78]

Got my bracket welded up today, planned on moving the brake stuff over 1/4" so that I wouldn't have to notch the bracket anymore than the firewall flange, due to the clutch master I'm using. Since I'll have 2-3/4" center to center brake and clutch, I really could have shaved 1/2" of length off of the booster bracket, but I didn't plan that far ahead. I would venture to guess that Wilwood master would allow the stock 2.5" spacing due to better/more compact mounting flanges.



the wilwood only comes up to a 1" bore, and ours are 1-1/8", so you would have a softer pedal with a more spongy travel, but I think if you drop down the pushrod location where it attaches to the cross-shaft's lever linkage, this will give you more stroke, which this master is capable of, and that will most likely compensate for the slightly smaller bore.

Capt, if I can find a digital camera around here, I'll take a pic or two for you of my setup. Got the brackets grafted together. what a tedious operation that was. It would have been far easier to have just done it with some flat plate steel from scratch I think due to angles, contours, and re-aligning two halves of existing booster brackets. Looks alright now, but I opted not to smooth the weld out, as I'm sure it will spawn some conversation on the subject somewhere along the way with a non-factory looking weld down the middle of my booster bracket.

looking at that wilwood drawing, I realized that the other drawback besides twice the $$ is that now you'd have to make up a 5/16x24tpi pushrod for the clutch, where using the 62 unit that is heavier and has a wider bolt flange, it uses the exact same stock setup for linkage and pushrod. The 62 single brake master in this location has the bolt flanges diagonally, and has 1/2" greater distance from edge of flange to center of pushrod (1-3/4" roughly).

check out soba_03's pictures, but I think the Wilwood's outlet is on the engine side of the master's end, and requires a brass 90 degree elbow as well, but should clear the contour of an 8" booster and maybe some 9" dual diaph. boosters if the contour of the back is good for this. 4.87" plus clearance for a brass elbow if necessary, where the factory unit is a little over 4-1/2" long.

it's late, gotta hit the hay.

[Captainfab]

Ttt

[pedro6371]

im kind doing the same process but im using a 4 speed saginaw trans,i have a 1960 chevy truck with same style master cylinder but im swaping a 78 chevy crossmember with disc brakes any suggestion for my swap never done it before thanks .pedro6371

[Captainfab]

Originally Posted by pedro6371

im kind doing the same process but im using a 4 speed saginaw trans,i have a 1960 chevy truck with same style master cylinder but im swaping a 78 chevy crossmember with disc brakes any suggestion for my swap never done it before thanks .pedro6371

What do you need to know? there are several threads here on the disc brake swap. Plus you are likely to get more responses if this was posted on the '60-'66 message board instead of in the classifieds.

[pedro6371]

the only only thing it may be a problem is my truck use to be six cyl with a three on tree now i have 283 with a 4 speed saginaw,originally on the truck is master cyl with a clutch cyl. i dont know how to do the linkage for the new set up and how to attache it to the pedal the brakes i think i can handle it,if you have any answer thanks.

[Chuck78]

Look at my thread, tons of info to keep the stock clutch linkage location, and one of the other guys on here (slepysal?) did the other conversion with the compact clutch master relocated toward the fender. Eitehr should work, mine will probably match up to the original slave cylinder a lot better, but the other seems to work well also (I think the bore might be 7/8" or 1" on the other setup, stock is 1-1/8".