Two master cylinder set ups?? Wilwood?

I've seen the brake set ups where they run two master cylinders. I think Wilwood does this. How does it work? Balance bar? Got any pics?

What I want to do is run a 60 Chevy truck master cylinder. The one with the clutch on one side and the brake on the other. But I want to use one for the front and one for the back. I know I'll have to put the residual valve in the clutch side.

Good idea? Has anybody done this before?
Clark

 

Seems like it would work, it would be nice if the divider in the reservoir went all the way up to the cap.

 

Scott..I think the divider is tall enough that if you lost fluid on one side you'd still have enough to get stopped. A little safer than a juice jar.

I think I know how the dual thing should work. I'd like to see some pics and get some ideas.
Clark

 

i've done it , not on a hot rod and not with the chevy truck MC...but on a road race car using two single master cylinders

i see no reason why it couldn't be made to work

you should check out wilwood's website, lot's of info

 

A balance bar would allow you to proportion the pedal effort front to rear, and still retain the safety aspect. Are both cylinders the same diameter?

 

Does the former clutch cyl. have enough capacity to operate the rear brakes effectivily?

 

Yes both cylinders are the same. Most guys switch the brake and clutch when they use them in hot rods. In the master cylinder they are the opposite of what your pedals are. I switched them on my 32. The guts are the same but the brake has a residual valve in it.

I figure I could buy a rebuild kit and install the brake stuff into the clutch side.
Clark

 

I run a Tilton setup with 3 master cylinders. Front, Rear, Clutch. The F/R
have a balance bar to help bias so I didn't use a restrictor on the rear.

Do you want to run Brakes off both circuits or will you be needing a clutch?

I have to pick up some parts from 67ImpWagon tonight and can measure his
M/C to see if the bore is the same on both sides.

 

36....Thank You. The wilwwod site helped. I can buy just the balance bar. I think I'll go that route.

Flt blck....Yeh ..no clutch in this car. I have limited space for the master cylinder and this set up would work perfect.
Clark

 

I don't know exactly how the single container works, but I bought two single resevoirs for my brakes. I'm going to be running four wheel discs (not very traditional but it was all free). The front runs a 7/8" cylinder with the rear running a 1". I talked several times with the guys a Wilwood about my application. The only thing they were worried about was if I had disc or drum brakes. They say their systems are made for disc only if I remember right.

 

hey clark, if your m/c turns out to be junk, give me a hollar.
i'll be pulling one off this 62 i've got....just not today, i'm up to my *** in snow

 

I run dual Wilwood masters under my floor with a balance bar, what pictures are you looking for....???

 

Balance bar. When I was a kid we used 2 masters like from an early single Galaxie. The hot low bucks setup in the early to mid 60s.

 

There is a local model A coupe running one just like that. I was surprised when I looked inside to find an automatic shifter. Tracing the lines down the firewall, it sure appeared to be two parallel systems. One side for the front and one side for the rear. Pretty sure it's running F100 front and a Ford in the rear. It should be pretty easy to build some adjustability into the "Y" shaped push rod from the pedal like the Nascar guys do.

A rebuild kit will provide another set of brake cyl. guts with the check valve inside to go into the clutch side eliminating the add on valve. I'm sure you know that the clutch and brake cylinders don't line up with the pedals but actually cross over in the linkage on the trucks. Some M/cyls are marked on the outside.

 

I did a dual master on my old Buick and the front was setup for disk (1981 Ford Granada . . . super cheap master cylinder) and I just put a residual valve in the front line. Drum brakes all the way around -- so the residual in the front holds pressure because the springs on drum brakes normally cause a pressure drop. My brakes are really good now . . . for an all drum car at least.

 

I converted that same ('61 Chevy dual bore m/c ) to dedicated brake service in balance bar fashion. The thing you HAVE to design in is a limit in the pivoting travel so that IF one side should fail the pedal still has enough travel to stop pivoting and still push the remaining good side. FWIW