Hydraboost Hydroboost Advice?

[BuffaloBillPatri]

I want to add Hydraboost to my 72. But, Don't want to spend $700

 

Am looking at rebuilt A1Cardone for 76 Caddy Eldorado. Has angled firewall plate & inverted flare USA sized fittings.

 

OR

 

76 Olds 88 unit from A1Cardone. Has 90* firewall plate & inverted flare USA sized fittings.

 

I can modify the firewall plate to use my existing 4 bolts sticking through firewall.

 

Can I use my new 1" manual disc/drum MC?

 

Does A1Cardone do good rebuilds?

 

Do I want the angled or 90* firewall plate?

 

Thanks BBP

[Mike 57]

I will take some pictures of mine tomorrow and send you some pictures.

[Monte72Carlo]

I would be very interested in seeing some pictures as well.

 

Thanks,

Garrett.

[John Burns]

Fix or replace your power brake booster and save ~$600.

[wallaby]

I think hydroboost was developed for diesel-engined vehicles, wasn't it? Diesels pull zero vacuum, so it sounds logical to me.

 

My question is how does it compare on an engine that DOES pull good vacuum?

[Heckeng]

Nick (Quarterbooty) installed it on his car, and it works great. It does lug down the engine if you hit the brakes hard though. A mechanic told me to make sure you had a good pump too, as some of the shafts GM was using on the Diesels were shearing off due to too much torque demand from the HB. It works very well, just as good as the vac assist, really there shouldn't be any difference to them at all as they should (I believe) all be designed to give you about the same line pressure if operating properly.

[Grease]

They were used in a lot of the full size GM cars and trucks . My 85 Caprice (gasoline) came that way from the factory and several of the one ton work trucks also gasoline 80s came that way . I never had any problems with them .

[Packratt]

I believe the later Asto vans had the same system because of space limitations under the hood.

[BuffaloBillPatri]

My PS pump was rebuilt by Lee when I got my quick ratio Lee box, best out there.

 

I got an A1Cardone HB rebuilt for 95 Astro, has 90* firewall plate.

 

Got the Metric to AN-6 adapters required by the HB, custom 53" high pressure hoses with AN-6 on one end & US 7/16 inverted flare on the other, Aluminum firewall adapter, pushrod between MC & HB, 3/8 low pressure return line & brass Tee.

 

All together about $500 NOT as cheap as I was hoping.

 

Next is to install all this stuff after Edelbrock & I sort out ECU not advancing timing.

 

BBP

[BuffaloBillPatri]

I just removed the Astro HB firewall plate from the unit.

 

The 72 A-body Aluminum firewall adapter that I got from Tallon came with a large socket type tool for removal/install of the large nut that holds the HB unit to the plate, very much needed. No instructions so it took me awhile to figure it out. Used my bench vice & LARGE pipe wrench.

 

The new Aluminum firewall adapter plate angles the HB up at an angle for more rocker arm clearance & 3 lines will hook up on the bottom & will look better than if on the top. The 1200psi nitrogen reservoir goes toward the drivers side.

 

I cut the brake rod shaft & am waiting for a new 3/8-24 die to thread it, using vice-grips to prevent rotation of rod.

 

I'm not sure of the length & makeup of the brake pedal to HB rod at this point?

 

I have read that I should use the upper (manual) hole in the pedal. I have a threaded manual rod in there as of now.

 

I have a new Dorman M76162 MC on order, 1.125" piston, normally used with a vacuum PB on our cars, so it has the required shallow pushrod cup.

 

BBP

[Mike 57]

The instructions I got from hydratech when I put mine in was to drill a hole between the power and manual holes

[BuffaloBillPatri]

some good info & pics.

 

http://www.angryamerica.com/chevelles/hydroboost.html

 

http://www.ifsja.org/forums/vb/showthread.php?t=106056

 

http://www.thehollisterroadcompany.com/hydroboost.html

 

http://www.tallonhydraulics.com/store/in...m00qkc8lk00gog6

 

 

[BuffaloBillPatri]

I used the top manual brake hole in the brake pedal. This aligned the pushrod perfectly with the HB unit

 

Due to the short distance between the brake pedal & the rear of the HB unit, I threaded a 3/8" nut tightly up to the firewall on each of the 4 brake booster studs to space the HB forward a bit.

 

To make up the pushrod, I had to cut the 3/8" coupling nut shorter in length to about 3/4" I threaded the HB rod & cut the useful threaded length down to about 3/8"

 

I made up a 1.5" all-thread 3/8" fine thread for the clevis end.

 

After threading both ends into the shortened coupling nut about 3/8" I welded them in. I had about 1/2" of adjustment threads into clevis & lock nut.

 

I got it installed & think I have most of the air bleed out.

 

I put on the closest sized Master cylinder nuts that I had, but could tell that they were a bit too big.

 

1st time I started motor & pushed on brake pedal, one of them stripped & slid forward.

 

Does anyone know what size that the MC studs are? They are bigger than 3/8"

 

Might be 11 MM ?

 

Thanks BBP