Manual brakes. Works great!

[mach.80]

Well folks, I did it. Finally.

First off let me introduce myself. My name is Joe I live here in Houston, Tx. (Not a native). I just bought my first GN about a month ago.
The GN had a bad Powermaster. The PM worked but cycled every time you touched the brake. By the way Kirban gace me 100 store credit for it.

I searched this site for all the brake related items HB, PM, Vac., & Manual.

I called Wilwood and they suggested manual of course.

The second time I called Wilwood they recommended me to Frank of GP Superstore. Frank was great. He did all the math for me and found out what parts I needed, and had no expectations in return. Good thing because, I'm married.

I also found on this site a great adapter for sale. This saved me alot of time and headache. When the adapter arrived it came in a MC box. I thought Crud! He sent me the wrong part. I was wrong. It was a perfect cnc'd billet aluminum with stainless hardware installed and counter sunk. OK I work in aviation and this is the stuff you see on airplanes that costs big bucks. This is the coolest peice on my car. I opted not to buy the MC he offered. It just didn't have the bore 7/8" that I needed.

So, when I got back from my trip I got to work. The adapter fit perfect to the firewall the MC fit perfect to the adapter. I used a tube bender to swap the location of the brake lines. The MC even came with the adapters and all the fitting to complete the install.

The only fabrication was to the push rod. I had to cut the rod that comes installed in the 7/8" bore MC. I had to cut the rod that came from the PM. I used a die the same thred as the MC pushrod to die the PM shortened rod. I then used a coupler and a locking nut, from your hardware store, to create an adjustable rod.

Now, I also drilled and tapped a hole in the brake pedel and installed a bolt. This gave me a 6:1 ratio instead of the 5:1 the powermaster used. HOWEVER, I did this for nothing because, I had too much pedel travel. So I ended up using the origional PM mounting point.

Well, with the adapter, new master cylinder, and a couple of parts from the hardware store. I'm all done.

Wow! I could not be happier. This modification worked great! The brake has a terriffic feel, not artifficial. The pedel is not too hard like I feared. My 105lb. wife drove the car and had absolutly no problem. Pedel travel is great. A perfect ballance of travel, feel, and pressure.

As a side note, I don't have plans of holding 22#'s of boost on the line with my foot. I don't care. Alot of people have Manual brakes on their race cars. I just wanted to share my experience for those people, with street cars, that want less headache with the PM and vac., less plumbing with the HB. Plus if your engine blows up at 125 you brakes don't give a S#!t.

I believe this set up will be great for my street driven car.

Parts: Willwood 260-9439 from GP Superstore $210 shipped.
G-body adapter from Drag Race Brakes $125 shipped.
Hardware$005
Subtotal $340
Subtract$100 credit for PM
Total$240

Of course bleeding the brake was not easy. But there are posts in this fourm for that.

I hope this information helps someone. I know I have benefited from all of your help.

By the way I have no pics my camera broke while we were on vacation. Brakes had the priority.

Joe

 

[BlackMetal]

Interesting. A while back I was tempted to try manual brakes for my street car but everyone talked me out of it. But every single power-assist system for these cars has a down-side. Powermaster fails. Vacuum brakes have leaking check valves and diaphragms. Hydroboost has plumbing and $$$$$. Why did you have to switch the location of the brake lines?

 

[novaderrik]

i had manual brakes in my 71 Nova, and they felt just like the power brakes in my 94 Caprice.
of course, i was using C4 Corvette PBR calipers and 12" rotors, so i gained a bit of leverage there. i've been pondering putting that exact same setup on the Regal and ditching the hydroboost that is starting to leak, but if i can find someone to sell me the seals to fix my booster myself, i just might keep it, since it is a good system.

 

[mach.80]

Turbo6chicago, as far I know the powermaster brake lines hook up as follows.

Front line on the master goes to the rear brakes.
Rear line on the master goes to the front brakes.

If I'm wrong please let me know!

The Wilwood master has the larger resivore up front and the smaller resivore in the rear. They reccommend the larger one to hook up to the larger demanding brakes ie. discs.

So. a simple swap of the lines was all that was necessary. It really was a non-event.


Novaderrik, That's great to hear about the C4 brakes I plan on doing something like that in the future.

If I already had the hydroboost I would just fix it. "Powerbrakebob" can repair it I'm sure.

I had the powermaster and I read all I could. I just did not want to deal with all the headache that goes with a system like that. It reminds me too much of aircraft systems. They always have redundency in case they fail. So, simplicity works for me.

The pedel is not the softest and you do have to press the brake instead of apply it. However, It's just fine. IMHO.

Joe

 

[BlackMetal]

Sounds good. I have LS1 12" brakes that I need to install up front, that would help stop the car if I went with manual brakes.

 

["Turbo-T"]

Sounds good. If I may ask would a standard g body MC not have worked? Or just not as well?

If going manual do you recommend upgrading the rotors to bigger ones?

 

[mach.80]

Yea I believe a standard MC will fit. I don't think you'll have enough leverage in it though. Your pedel will feel like you have no assist at all.

You need a smaller MC bore size.

good luck

 

[J Banning]

.

 

[mach.80]

Those interested I just purchased a set of ls1 rear brakes and will be doing the mod within a couple of days. I'll be using all used parts for mock-up for my wheels but I might as well test them out while their in.

 

[mach.80]

Aluminum Drums for sale

Pulled off my drums just to find out their aluminum drums. I did some weighing and relized I added 28lbs to the rear with the swap to ls1 disc brakes.

Oh well. Its not a drag car. Its a no-option car so I guess its light enough. I'll take the extra stopping power over the extra weight savings.

Also all my parts are out for the ls1 mod for the front as well. Should get them back tomorrow.

Well the drums are for sale $110 shipped. I have all of the parts for the rear brakes. Ill try to get pics soon if needed. I have a new camera and have to figure out how to get pics on my computer.