680HPStroker Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 A question for those of you who are running BB with tall valve covers with stud girdles. How tall are your valve covers and did they clear the stock power brake booster? Most of the valve covers I come across that clear stud girdles are 4+" tall. Right now my valve covers are 2.5" tall and leave me with 1.25-1.5" clearance to the brake booster. 3.5" should work out ok, but any taller I don't think would work. So far the only covers that are 3.5" tall that will clear the girdles are Dart units, but I don't have Dart heads and that would look kind of funny. Any solutions out there besides switching to a smaller booster? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam (Bones) Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 hydro-booster, works off the power steering pump, I know that's not the answer you're looking for, but you wouldn't have any vacuum issues with a vacuum operated booster then Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
680HPStroker Posted February 1, 2008 Author Share Posted February 1, 2008 Yea Sam I've thought about that system in the past, but what happens if you loose your p/s pump? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it means no brakes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reaper Posted February 1, 2008 Share Posted February 1, 2008 Get one like mine! They can be found a lot cheaper than the $250 or what ever I paid for it... Works great and I dont have to worry about any kind of clearance issues... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike 57 Posted February 3, 2008 Share Posted February 3, 2008 I have a hydraboost braking system and love it. There is a accumulator that holds pressure if you stall or loose belts just like a booster holds vacuum for a couple of shots of brakes. After that you still have brakes with a harder pedal. It is a really nice system if you are running a lot of cam. You can see the clearance that I have with it in the picture. If you look close you can see I am running a double pulley on the P/S pump like the ones used on the AC cars Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam (Bones) Posted February 3, 2008 Share Posted February 3, 2008 I may have to go with a smaller diameter booster too, I am going to use a vacuum pump from a '80's x body for the vacuum source Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
680HPStroker Posted February 4, 2008 Author Share Posted February 4, 2008 I found a company named Power Brake Service who sells rebuilt units with a warranty for $195.00 and sells the required hoses as well. I like the idea of having no booster at all giving lots of clearance. Thanks for the pic Mike57. a picture is worth a thousand words. I should be able to get the hydro boost in for about the same price as an electric vacumn pump(that doesn't include the cost of the smaller brake booster). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
680HPStroker Posted February 13, 2008 Author Share Posted February 13, 2008 Next question is if you run tall valve covers with no baffles to clear stud girdles how do you keep the pvc and the breather from sucking up oil and spewing it all over the engine? I thought about drilling the hole for the pvc on the end of one valve cover and then weld in a baffle at the very end of the cover. I saw this setup for a belt driven vacumn pump. I may have no other choice, but to run a mechanical vacumn pump. If I do that will it make the power brake brake booster work better? Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wallaby Posted February 14, 2008 Share Posted February 14, 2008 There are a number of oil caps that have baffles built in and ability to connect pcv hoses. The only problem is that they stand above the valve cover. I have one on the 4-cyl jeep of mine and it is a twist-in like the oil cap was and has a grommet for the pcv valve to plug right into it. Another type is push-in style with a hose fitting coming out of the side...you hook up hoses and use an in-line pcv valve with that one. They look just like a breather but are fully sealed. Check the catalogs or maybe your parts counter person will let you brouse through his picture book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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