Complete Manual Brake Conversion Kit?

[LT1ThirdGen]

Does anyone make one of these kits, anymore? I’m done with the Powermaster unit- burn it, and it’s designers.

All the posts I see from searching here seem to have dead links due to age, or links to incomplete kits. I guess what I’m looking for is a turn-key complete kit that will allow me to ditch the Powermaster unit once and for all and just run manual brakes with little or no fabrication.

Any such kit available? If not, maybe someone could be so kind as to provide a parts list that I can go to Autozone and source out. Not interested in rummaging through the one You-Pull-It lot down here. The only cars that haven’t been picked clean are the Yugos.

Thanks in advance!

 

[1KWIKSIX]

check out maliburacing.com

 

[1KWIKSIX]

check out maliburacing.com

 

[Turbo6inKY]

I wrote up my conversion:
http://blog.andrewdscott.com/?p=21

The only thing on there you can't buy either at a parts store or Summit is a clevis to mate the pedal to the master cylinder rod. I made one. You might be able to find one at Speedway motors or somewhere similar. Like here: https://www.speedwaymotors.com/5-16-Inch-Threaded-Brake-Pedal-Clevis,83675.html

 

[LT1ThirdGen]

I wrote up my conversion:
http://blog.andrewdscott.com/?p=21

The only thing on there you can't buy either at a parts store or Summit is a clevis to mate the pedal to the master cylinder rod. I made one. You might be able to find one at Speedway motors or somewhere similar. Like here: https://www.speedwaymotors.com/5-16-Inch-Threaded-Brake-Pedal-Clevis,83675.html

Thanks for the info. I actually read your blog post yesterday when I started thinking about this project. That’s what made me hope to find a plug-and-play type kit in the first place!

 

[malibudave]

http://www.manualbrakes.com/g-body.html

Only thing you should need for this swap is a vacuum boosted brake pedal and change out the front calipers.

The vacuum boosted brake pedal arm has a hole for manual brakes, the PM brake pedals does not have this provision. The pin that comes in manualbrakes.com KIT presses into the manual brake hole of a vacuum boosted g-body brake pedal. No drilling the pedal. If you wanted to reuse the PM brake pedal, you CAN NOT. The pin location for the manual brake location is too close to the PM pin location. The PM pin will interfere with the adjustable push rod clevis that comes in with the manualbrakes.com KIT. A vacuum boosted brake pedal could be found on eBay or at your local pick and pull and junk yard.

Other things to consider are your 1987 factory stock front calipers. They are low drag and require a step bore master cylinder to work. The smallest step bore master cylinder has a pressure bore of 24mm, and in my opinion, that is too large for most manual brake setups. Fortunately, any remanufactured caliper is built to NON low drag (normal) standards so they can work with the 1978-1981 G-bodies with strait bore master cylinders, 1982-1988 G-bodies with step bore master cylinders, 1982-1992 F-bodies with step bore master cylinders, 1992-1997 S10 pickups/SUVs step bore master cylinders, and 1998-2004 S10 pickups/SUV with strait bore master cylinders. All these years have the same part number for calipers. That all being said, a step bore master cylinder does will not fit in the push rod retention cup, so it cannot be used with the manualbrakes.com KIT if you wanted to.

The manualbrakes.com KIT comes with a brand new MOPAR style master cylinder and the correct adapters to mate the outlets of the master cylinder to the stock GN brake line fittings. So no reflaring your brake lines to get the fittings to fit the master cylinder.

Other than the vacuum boosted brake pedal and rebuilt calipers from the auto parts store, the manualbrakes.com KIT is complete.

If you have any questions you can always pick up the phone and talk with Dave. 832-264-5566

 

[The Granny]

manualbrakes.com all the way. Easy to install, instructions go step by step, and he's there to assist you day or night over the phone. i remember when i was installing mine i had sent him messages back and forth around 10pm and he would reply right away. Also, we hypothesized the power master brake pedal would work with his manual brake kit however the spot we needed to drill to relocate the pin wouldn't work, so he just gave me a vacuum pedal at no charge! Top notch stand up guy, if i ever had another car and wanted manual brakes i'd go through manualbrakes.com without hesitation

Just a tip, paint the adapter plate black. really makes it look clean. i used roll bar/chassis spray paint from autozone, turned out great.

View attachment 312099

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[ttypewhite]

manualbrakes.com all the way. Easy to install, instructions go step by step, and he's there to assist you day or night over the phone. i remember when i was installing mine i had sent him messages back and forth around 10pm and he would reply right away. Also, we hypothesized the power master brake pedal would work with his manual brake kit however the spot we needed to drill to relocate the pin wouldn't work, so he just gave me a vacuum pedal at no charge! Top notch stand up guy, if i ever had another car and wanted manual brakes i'd go through manualbrakes.com without hesitation

Just a tip, paint the adapter plate black. really makes it look clean. i used roll bar/chassis spray paint from autozone, turned out great.

View attachment 312099

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What did you change from before you went manual? How is the pedal feel? and braking distance? When my power master gave up I went to vacuum with good success, but I was pondering the manual brakes as well. Always wondered how that platform would be like compared to the vacuum brakes I am using now.

 

[The Granny]

What did you change from before you went manual? How is the pedal feel? and braking distance? When my power master gave up I went to vacuum with good success, but I was pondering the manual brakes as well. Always wondered how that platform would be like compared to the vacuum brakes I am using now.

I changed from a power master system, mine was going out thus the reason for the change. I was going to wait until i upgraded my brake system entirely to do the swap (strange discs on all 4 corners) however since the system was going out, i just replaced it with the manualbrakes.com kit.

Pedal feel is a little different, a lot stiffer than before and might take a while to get accustomed to but after having the kit on the car for a couple months now, i love how it feels. My dad was against it at first, he didn't like how hard you had to press the pedal to get the car to slow down, but he's slowly becoming accustomed to it.

Braking distance theoretically shouldn't change. From what i've read on here and other places online the only time stopping distance can change is when you change components like calipers/rotors. Going from power to vacuum to manual or any other sort of system, the only thing that changes is how hard you have to push the pedal to stop the car. With all of that being said, a car with manual brakes will obviously require more force on your end to get the car to slow down in comparison to an assisted brake system, however if i absolutely mash the brake pedal it will stop the car just as well as the PM system had when it was working properly.

I talked to murphster about manual brakes a little bit before i made the change, and he told me he knows of guys with manual brakes and strange disc brakes on all 4 corners and with an adjustable proportioning valve, the brakes can be adjusted well enough to feel like you're going to fly out the windshield when you hit the brake pedal.

i hope any of what i wrote helps you out


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[ttypewhite]

Very interesting, thank you for your response.

 

[forcefed3.8's]

When I still had rear drums, I used a master cylinder from a dodge shadow 7/8" bore. Brakes worked great. With an adjustable proportioning valve, i think more pressure to the rear would have been a benefit. You need to pump them to get full pressure. I now have dual caliper rear discs and switched to a 1 1/8" master. The ports are tied together to send the same volume to each caliper front and rear. I have an adjustable proportioning valve, but I have the full pressure going to the rear, and have had no issues driving on the street with it this way.