Ihave a 1955 ford victoria I'd like to convert to a duel master cylinder. It's all drum brakes. what do I use and how do I set it up.Can I use the same rod. If anyone can Help me I would appreciate it. Thanks.

Bobby,

I have a upgraded brake system on my 56 mainline. I used a kit that was recomended on the forum off ebay from old irish dave. It uses a  dual 7" booster and a covette 1" master. I'd recomend replacing your hardline as it's probably got some condesation over the years and is very thin by now. Although some just run line to the spliter on the frame under the master.

Do a search of brake booster/master and you should see some previous posts.

It can be a good time to consider a front disk brake upgrade as well.  

Cheers

Warren

Grizzly (Aussie Mainline)

Can I hijack this thread and ask if anyone has an email address or web link to get Irish Daves mastercylinder/ booster

I searched but only got a phone number and some redundant ebay listings which is no use to me.

Gary - 1958 Star Customline and 1940 Ford Deluxe Hotrod

I also purchased a power brake conversion kit from Old Irish Dave for my 57 Fairlane.  I kept the original drum brakes and the new kit works great (front disks would probably be better, but the power brakes work so much better than the standard that I am satisfied with the performance).  You will need to split the front and rear lines in order to take advantage of the dual master cylinder.

Irish Dave's Ebay store is:

http://stores.ebay.com/The-Oldirishmans-autoparts?_trksid=p4340.l2563

His telephone number is:  575-544-4729

Good luck with your brake project.

Regards,

Dave

Dave: If you don't mind elaborating a bit? What is required besides the contents of the kit, to install it on a 57 car with drums? Thanks - Paul

Paul

I purchased one of Dave's power booster setups for my 1957 Wagon with 312. His supplied bracket would not allow the booster to clear the exhaust manifold. I didn't receive much satisfaction from Dave. His response was he hasn't had any problems before. I found a bell crank style bracket from a 70's era Galaxy which raised the booster slightly but it was still to close. It worked fine until things got warm and then the brakes would start hanging up.

I pulled it off. Since I had already split the lines I purchased a dual master cylinder for a 69-70 Torino with non power drum brakes. The splitting of lines is fairly easy using some fitting plugs and some new brake line.

Jeff Petersen

If you do go with the booster kit from Old Irish Dave,phone him and buy it.Dont buy off Ebay.You will get a better  price and he does take credit cards.Regarding the problem with the 57 Wagon.Thats the first time I have heard of a problem with his kits.How come it worked on one 57 sedan but not on the wagon?By the way I bought 2 kits for my 56 and my friends 55.As well another friend bought one for his 54 Mercury.Worked great. 

  

Paul,

The kit consists of the dual master cylinder, vacuum booster cannister and mounting brackets as well as a new push rod that connects the brake pedal to the vacuum booster.  The brackets for my kit were angled upward slightly to give more clearance with the exhaust manifold.  The clearance was "tight" even with the upward angle, but it has worked out just fine.  I did add some heat shield material under the closest point between the exhaust manifold and the vacuum booster cannister.  The system has been on the car for almost 2 years and has worked just great.

I did need to purchase some brake line material to fabricate new lines from the dual master cylinder to the tee fitting location on the frame where I connected it to the original front and rear lines that split from that location. 

Good luck with your installation.

Dave

One thing I did on my 56 was redrill the hole in the pedal for the pushrod to bolt to.More in line with where the pushrod meets the pedal about an inch or so lower than the existing hole.I have had no problems with it.I found the angle steep if you  use the existing hole causing the pushrod to come close to rubbing on the firewall.I did one other thing because there is no dustboot to cover the hole in the firewall where the pushrod coes through.I got a rubber floor type plug the same size as the hole in the firewall and put a hole in the middle for the pushrod and cut a series of cuts from the hole out to the edge of the plug to make it flexible.Keeps the dust out much better than leaving a hole in the firewall.A little silicone to hold it in place when it flexs.

  

Dave; Thanks for the details. I'm still a bit apprehensive, given Jeff's problem with the kit. However, dates of purchase may have been considerably different, (?) so maybe the bracket has been altered, hopefully? Also, thanks Mark for the additional info, however fitting issues are still quite possible, given that 55-56 bodies are quite different from 57s.

Paul