Hydroboost Conversion

[IntrstlarOvrdrve]

Hey all, I've searched and read as much as I could about this but I am still unclear on the conversion. I've read that the pedals are different and a hydroboost setup has dual power steering and crank pulleys. What all would i absolutely have to pull from a car in a junkyard? I know I can buy the booster, master cylinder and pressure lines from oreilly's. Is there anything other than the pedals and pulleys that I can't buy at the store? I've been unable to find a car that has this equipment, most of our local yards don't really carry anything older these days..Isthere any way to modify my stock pedal assembly? Or use a setup off an astro van?

Thanks!

 

[dan2286]

Do you absolutely need that set up? If not, I would stay away. I work on a lot of diesel chevy trucks with the set up, and the pedal feel is horrible. Pretty much feels like the brake lines have tons of air in them. At least try to drive a car or truck with it to see if you like it.

 

[IntrstlarOvrdrve]

My car just has too big of a cam for consistent braking. I don't really like manual brakes but I'm tired of the brakes being rock hard too.

 

[FE3X CLONE]

Pedal feel is fine on my 87 and my brothers '02 Mustang.

As far as what is needed I can't really help with that. I bought the complete kit from hydratech instead of trying to source everything from the parts store or junkyard.
I had read there were issues with trying get a junkyard unit to work properly. I believe the two biggest items were pedal geometry and the firewall stud spacing.

 

[565bbchevy]

I had the same problem with my brakes my cam is 732/715 lift and 271/277 dur. @ 0.050. I was at the junkyard looking for a possible hydroboost system when I saw a 1995 Ford F350 with this little pulley driven vacuum pump so I bought it for $75 that was 10 years ago. I made some brackets and added a pulley on my power steering pump to drive it. It does not require a vacuum source like electric ones and it regulates itself at 28 lbs. I have mine going to a vacuum canister then to the booster.You can sit in traffic with the brakes on and it still has over 20 lbs at idle. And off course the pedal feel is the same as a car with a stock cam.

 

[G-Body_Vet]

I'm planning on going this route too when the time comes, but in my case it's for removing that big honkin' booster for more space and gaining more pressure for braking. The easiest factory-type swap would be a g-body diesel or the 83-84 T-type IIRC. On the other hand, I understand these units are quite outdated.

Here's a link I saved from the turbo Buick site some time ago.
http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/how-to ... rsion.html
Another quick write-up from CarCraft
http://www.carcraft.com/techarticles/cc ... index.html
Another link from a z28 site
http://www.nastyz28.com/forum/showthread.php?t=215789

Hope those links give you some ideas and whether you want to take the plunge. But like Andrew said, that Hydratech set-up is probably going to be the most trouble free route if budget allows.

 

[78MC-BBC]

My hydroboost setup consists of the following parts from an 85 Buick Grand National, the last year of the g-body hydroboost.

85 GN specific parts
hydroboost unit (local parts guy)
master cylinder(local parts guy)
power steering pump(local parts guy)
power steering fluid filter(local parts guy)
brake pedal (the hydroboost pedal has a different hole location for the brake booster to attach to)
i got the pedal from a seller off of the turbo buick board here in New England that cuts up the turbo buicks
you can use factory power steering hoses from the GN, but i did not

You can also use the factory power steering pulley that is per your car

i upgraded the power steering lines to the braided stainless ones with fittings, because i have a big block and a S10 serpentine belt swap, so those hoses on my car had to be custom.

i did this swap because my big block has around a 625/650 lift cam and i dont want to worry about vacuum issues

 

[IntrstlarOvrdrve]

Thanks for the replies! Do you happen to know the difference between the hydro and vac pedal?

 

[78MC-BBC]

Thanks for the replies! Do you happen to know the difference between the hydro and vac pedal?

the hydroboost pedal has a different hole location for the brake booster pushrod to attach to

 

[IntrstlarOvrdrve]

Is it something that I could modify to fit with my stock pedal?

Nobody happens to have a set out that they can compare do they??