Hi everybody, I'm a still a fng to the hamb but like alot of you I have been around cars of all types all my life from the 40's thru the present. I spend way to much time lurking and reading all the GREAT posts but learning more everytime I visit this site. I have done alot of different kinds of racing from drag racing in the mid 60's to running stock cars in the 70's and D-Derby in the 80's. And restoring cl***ic cars in between. At the present time I'm building a 1954 Merc Monterey as a street cruiser.( I had one in high school 1960's) This time not as a stock original. I have the frame and the running gear pretty much all done and now I am working on the body work. At the present time I'm working on the firewall filling all the extra holes and smoothing it all out. The question I have is what manual master cylinder to use for this project. I have all Granada running gear in it mildly build 302 with C-4 and the Granada disc brake setup. I am looking to install a four bolt mounting manual master cylinder to the firewall, as the merc had power brakes and it mounted with four bolts. I could use the Granada master but it only uses two bolts and would leave part of the original hole in the firewall exposed, I have seen four bolt dual master cylinders but don't remember on what, Maybe someone here has done this before and knows which one to use that bolts up and covers the complete hole in the firewall. Or do I just have to fill the big hole and use the two bolt master. Any ideas would be great. Second quick question I have is about the bracket nut that sticks thru the firewall on top of the firewall that secures the brake pedal ***embly. I want to remove the nut so it doesn't show on the firewall side I have thought about cutting it off and just welding it to the firewall where it comes thru and grinding it smooth. Has anybody else delt with this before and what did you do as it is really ugly!! Thanks for any advice you can share with me.
One thing to consider.... use parts that are matched together, if you are using all Granada brakes.... use the master cylinder that went with it or another master cylinder that matches all the specs the old one did.... bore diameter, stroke length, metering/proportional valving, etc. If you have doubts get professional advice to ***ure your brake effectiveness. I have a horror story of a friend of mine that used mis-matched parts and crashed his car because it wouldn't stop correctly. Don't scrimp here! I use MP Brakes as my source on many of the builds I have done.
My '54 Monterey has the same Granada disc/9-inch drum setup as yours. The previous owner (PO) used a Granada (and others) master, which I just replaced because the one on it leaked. Mine also has a power brake booster which was adapted to the Merc via a custom bracket. If you want bolt-on power brakes, check with Fatman Fabrications as they sell the Granada-style front brake setup for our cars. I think that's where mine came from, but don't know for sure. I have the instruction sheet for the disc brake conversion (Fatman Fabrications) and that is what they call out. If you want manual brakes, I think the old standby Mustang manual disc/drum master will do the job. It bolts on in the stock manner as you requested and is set up to properly activate the setup you have. See my 1952 Victoria Build-Up thread (1952 Victoria Build-Up Part 1 in this social group, not on the main board) for more info. Others can also chime in as many have used this master with disc/drum setups. I've got to run now, but look forward to checking out your Merc in more detail.
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