I have a friend with a 57 Thunderbird who would like to retain the drum brakes, but would like to add power assistance and dual braking circuits. I contacted oldirishdave, a dealer on eBay and he informed me that his systems are not designed for 57 birds, but he did say that manufacturers do supply kits.

Can anyone advise me of a supplier of a kit to get rid of the single circuit master cylinder and provide a pedal vac system with dual circuits.

Regards

Rick - West Australia
Do Y Blocks Downunder run upside down? Gravity Sucks!!

hmm I thought it would all be fairly typical. As I just installed my Irish Dave booster on my Fairlane with drum/drum set up. I am very pleased with the result. I hope your friend can find a suitable fit.

1957 Fairlane

Take a look see at this thread from an automotive board called The H.A.M.B.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=595162

Its got some good info about what your attempting to accomplish.

Oldmics

As memory serves me, the dual master is not a problem, the booster is. Most common ones interfer with the hood latch. Seems I saw one, with an automatic, where the brake was moved outboard to the clutch location, and a small booster cleared with the battery in the trunk.



I used a hydro boost unit, but that means a power steering pump, if the car isn't p/s already. The hot rod guys used to make a twin circuit remote booster, like the single circuit that Ford used, but I don't know about size/mounting. I've got an electric booster on my 32, but while it came well recommended, I don't care much for it.



With the drums, does he really need the boost, or could you pick the right bore size, and be ok for foot pressure?

miker
55 bird, 32 cabrio F code
Kent, WA
Tucson, AZ

I have been fooling around with this stuff on my 57 Bird. It has factory power brakes. A simple but possibly pricey alternative is to use a OEM 57 Tbird Treadlevac booster which is mounted on the inner fender in front of the battery box. Then use a drum/drum dual circuit master cylinder mounted in the stock location on the firewall. Using the hand bendable brake lines to plumb it makes life a little easier.

57 Black Tbird 312/auto

I heard of people going with a dual master and using the stock TBird power brake unit. They plumbed the power brake unit to work with the front brakes only and it seemed to work ok.

54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

Thanks for the info Paul. I have had experience with only the fronts boosted and it was a bit scary as the fronts would lock up real easy.

I prefer to go with a pedal vac system, but it looks like the booster will need to be offset about 45degrees and tilted up to clear the exhaust manifold. I am thinking it is possible to modify the brackets supplied with the kits from oldirishdave but he felt there some other kits/brackets on the market. Moving the batter isnt a problem.

I see some people advertising complete disc brake conversions for the 57 but noone specifically lists a power booster system on its own.

Oh well. ingenuity will prevail I suppose.

Regards




Rick - West Australia
Do Y Blocks Downunder run upside down? Gravity Sucks!!

I'm using one of these:



http://www.thunderbirdbrakeparts.com/proddetail.asp?prod=9795tb



It gets the booster well out of the way and was almost bolt in. I had to notch the bracket for the hood release. Other things notable, the power assist isn't that great as the adapter doubles the movement of the pedal and it doesn't include a seal for the firewall. Plus the obvious, new brake lines and moving the battery.



Don

Thanks for this Don.

That was exactly what I was looking for. I knew someone would have already been there-done that.

Regards

Rick - West Australia
Do Y Blocks Downunder run upside down? Gravity Sucks!!

Let me know if you want pics of the installation sent to a a regular email address. We are talking about a left hand drive car, correct?



Don