Anyone ever upgrade the master cylinder on a 55 Pontiac to a dual resevoir? Any ideas or tips as to what might work....or should I just get a scarebird frt disc conversion, and use a new streetrod style cylinder and booster? I wanted to keep it basically stock, but I drive the hell out of it so I want it to be safe....and the brakes failed, lines are all good, so when the snow stops I will tear in to the hydraulics of the system, couldnt even get the cap twisted off to check the fluid, inside of the wheels look dry, so Im thinking M.Cyl....oh and no one can get me a reman!, it has power brakes, can I swap it out for a NON Power brake cylinder original cylinder without a bunch of mods....I mean if I have to modify it Id like a dual resevoir.........and why in the world is it mounted so close to the exhaust manifold????? Thanks Any help would be greatly appreciated! Shawn
i took my power set up off my 57 becuase it was all messed up also. I used a willwood master cylinder. We ended up taking off the panel in the floor were you used to get to the old brakes.I think plate that goes acorss it now. We bolted the mastercylinder to that and it lines up with my pedal. I just made a sheet metal piece to cover the rest of the hole. I can stop it. I can also get enough pressure on it to lock up all 4 wheels. Is it the right way to do it? Not sure. If yours is any thing close to mine there is no room between the engine and the frame rails.
I'm in the middle of changing mine over as we speak. You can get brakes from www.kanter.com , you should get them to send you a free catalouge 'cause they have TONS of parts. I called them up and it was gonna be $350 to rebuild my master/booster plus shipping. That was a little too much for me, so after posting a similer question on this board I heard from droplord about his setup and am going with that. Basicly, I'm using a '72 GMC pickup brake pedal & bracket(wich has to be cut down to fit, did mine w/ a hacksaw, not hard) mounted to a 1/8" steel plate on the firewall that replaces the vent box on the drivers side. I need to bend the brake pedal so it's centered under the steering column and do some other odds & ends and I'll be $300 richer & have a safer setup. Now I'm just waiting to push on my pedal for the first time and watch all four wheel cyl's blow out! This was droplord's idea, he was kind enough to tell me about it. Thanks Droplord! My digital camera took a **** 'else I'd post a pic...... Oh yeah, my car is a '55 olds, I'm just ***uming olds/pont are the same or close! Later- John
My 55 has manual brakes which are sufficient for my needs.There are two types of power brake unit for a 55;the Moraine and the Treadle-Vac,both of which are expensive to overhaul and can be really grabby. My 57 Safari,which was built as a drag car back in the early 60's uses a 55-57 Chevrolet swing pedal setup with the Chevy single circuit m/cylinder.Jerry fabricated the clutch linkage(which operates flawlessly)but the pedal bracket was a near bolt-in from what he told me.The reason he used a Chevy setup was he couldn't find a standard shift Pontiac to get the pedals from. BTW I've logged over 165K on the 55 with the manual brakes and have had no problems with them;even having to lock them up on occasion.
I'm pretty sure these guys can help. I'm running their power booster with dual master. www.abspowerbrake.com
Yes I changed my 55 Pontiac to a dual cyl and used a 7 in booster. It is relatively easy. I used parts from Master Power Brake, Mooresville, NC. Because of clearance I had to use an aluminum master cyl. that has the ports on the right side. I also installed front disk brakes and changed the rear wheel cylinders and fluid. If you need any other info- donut56@cfl.rr.com
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