Is your email working? I tried sending you one yesterday and it returned it saying permission denied.

 

Many of the web email accounts including Hotmail are rejected. Use a real email address.

Sorry for the inconvieniance but it's the only way to control the spam. I only get 1-2 pieces of spam a month. Losing the occasional legitimate email is worth it.

 

i use hotmail. lol
I only use it because I am never home to use my legitimate email address and dont have a work email address to use.

Anyway, here is a copy of the email I sent you. Its in regards to the manual brakes again. Just more detailed questions

 

1. Yes. It will require removing the pedel to drill properly. Other than the pivot point leverage increase, the other reason you need to do this is because the power brakes are angled up. The lower point on the pedel pushes upward. When you install the manual master cylinder, you need to push straight out. Moving the mount hole 1" up accomplishes this.

2. No. It's not a direct boltup. The master cylinder is attached with 2 bolts on either side. The brake booster uses 4 bolts on the corner. You want the master cylinder to go in the center of the hole so you need to drill 2 new holes to bolt the master onto the firewall. Look at the pics. You'll see that the brake pedel bracket is rebolted through the top holes and the master has 2 new mounting holes drilled above the old lower holes. There are adaptor kits available that just use an adaptor plate. You could easily make one also. Just adjust the length of the rod to accomidate the thickness of the adaptor plate. Don't forget to fill the old holes to pass a tech inspection. My bottom ones are not done yet.

I used the S-10's rod. I cut it down to the length I needed and threaded the end so the rod end could screw on. You want a rod end the same as what's on a Spohn torque arm (like the one in the picture). This allows the force of the brake pedel to push relatively straight on the rod. Using a rod end with a ball and socket type like a mini tie rod end isn't strong enough. I bolted the rod end onto the brake pedel with a 3/8" grade 8 bolt.

I still have the factory disk brake combination valve. Now that the 9" is install, it now has drum brakes on the rear. I have no idea what it's going to be like stopping at 120 mph. If braking is unbalanced I'll invest in a Wilwood valve.

Cost?
Junkyard master cylinder with pushrod $12
Nuts, bolts, rod end, Maybe $25 but I think less.
I had to fabricate brake lines to the combination valve because the S-10 master cylinder uses double flare fittings and my car uses metric bubble fittings. Cost of lines and fittings to sort of make conversion lines. Around $20.
Brake fluid. <$1

Total cost in parts to convert to manual brakes. less than $60 (Canadian but parts like that are around the same price US also)

Because the f-body master cylinder has the outlet ports on the engine side because of the strut tower and the S-10 master cylinder has the outlet ports on the fender side like every other GM, you need to do a bit of relocating of the brake lines. When you pick up the S-10 master cylinder, get the lines that go to the combination valve also. You may need them for conversion.

I'll try to get some more closeup pics the next time I get my car into the shop. I'm waiting for some more parts to arrive and it's snowing again. We have no room at work to keep it inside so it's in the yard with a car cover over it.

Start by finding an S-10 with a 4 cylinder that has manual brakes for a donor vehicle. Then find a rod end that can be screwed onto the pushrod. Once you have those parts it's only a matter of finding time to do the conversion. The hardest part I had was converting the standard/metric brake lines. I wound up just using a standard fitting and double flaring one end of the metric line to get it to work. It doesn't leak so far.

 

Thanks a LOT.
Very usefull information.

Thanks Stephen