Hydroboost?

[yourownself]

so, i've been looking into different options/upgrades for the spring, and hydroboost came up.
how does it register in terms of an upgrade? i'm planning (for now) to run the thumpy cam that i have now in the 350, which should pull a bit more power, but that still doesn't help my braking situation.
i tried a vacuum tank, to no avail.
i've been pricing out a setup from a grand national, and it's looking like it might be a pretty affordable swap.
have any of you done it?
what do you think of it?
would you do it again, or would you find a different route?

 

[Blake442]

They just had an article about this in either this months car craft or hot rod, can't remember which.

 

[TBRtat2]

if your motor doesnt have the vacuum needed for the brakes.
1 all manual, not my fav but simple and it works if you get the write parts.
2 a vacuum pump, but thats going to steel hp
3 a hydro boost, which if setup write will provide the braking needed, and being it uses a power steering pump to run it, you shouldnt put to much of an extra load on the motor.
I once put it in an old impala that had way to big of a cam to run vacuum anything. We put hydro boost brakes, and got rid of every thing vacuum ran.

 

[GP403]

if you can find an old diesel car it will have the hydroboost setup on it, was standard equip. for those. They work great, it'll stop the car *now* but if you ever lose the power steering belt, all bets are off! 😀

I've got it on the GP (was an ex-diesel) and haven't had any trouble with it. Unsure how hard it is to find parts as I haven't needed to yet. Like said above it uses the PS pump for the assist.

 

[joe_padavano]

if you can find an old diesel car it will have the hydroboost setup on it, was standard equip. for those. They work great, it'll stop the car *now* but if you ever lose the power steering belt, all bets are off! 😀

I've got it on the GP (was an ex-diesel) and haven't had any trouble with it. Unsure how hard it is to find parts as I haven't needed to yet. Like said above it uses the PS pump for the assist.

There are two different hydraulic brake booster systems that have been used by GM. The first is the hydroboost. This system uses the power steering pump and power steering fluid to also provide the brake boost. It's made by Bendix and used today on heavy trucks (one ton and up) and some Mustangs. It is also favored by the street rod crowd because it is physically smaller than a vacuum brake booster. As noted, it also works well in applications with little or no vacuum, such as radical cams in addition to diesel motors.

The second system was called PowerMaster and was a self-contained unit that used a small electric pump mounted on the booster to pressurize the brake fluid as the booster working fluid. It shared the brake fluid with the brake system reservoir. The PowerMaster was used on the 80s vintage wagons (such as with the Olds 307 motor) and the Buick Turbo Cars. A later version of the PowerMaster was also used on the late 80s/early 90s FWD GM full size cars. The accumulator on these units frequently goes bad (and is easily replaced), leading to the whole thing being swapped for a vacuum booster by people who don't know any better.

 

[Blake442]

I just checked, and the article is in the new Car Craft.

 

[yourownself]

i quickly glanced at it at work, and that's what set me off to the idea. i didn't have time to read the whole article and i'm too cheap to buy the magazine, so instead i just looked up some kits on summit... once again, i'm way too cheap for that crap.
so the next day at work, i started pulling up some parts to see what will bolt in, and it seems i can retrofit a GN hydroboost system (which, btw, parts are readily available for, as well as the old GP system) with little to no modifications, and all bolt on parts.

powermaster was apparently available on the gbodys, but a new one goes for almost $1000 at advance. i've heard they were available on early cavaliers as well. don't know if that'd be any use to me tho.

i guess i'll go read that article and post a little of what i find.

BTW, if you need some parts that might be hard to find, or that you don't trust a typical parts monkey to look up for you, send me a PM, and i'll try to get ahold of you (I'm a manager at Advance south of Boston)

 

[Lawfree]

When I put in the "built" 350R in my 80' Cutlass I installed the Bendix Hydroboost from a later model G body Diesel car. The whole thing is a bolt in but be sure to grab the whole system. The OEM set-up uses dual pulleys for safety should a belt break so grab the crank pulley too. The brake pedal is different too so take that too. The Diesel car pump resevoir has the extra fitting for the return line or you can tee off like in the Car Craft article. I bought my whole set-up that had new hoses and master for $10. The factory Hydroboost has an internal accumulator that makes it more compact and a cleaner looking install. This will give you 3 good assisted stops if something fails. As it turns out, I probably didn't need to do this swap as my Rocket Engine still pulls @ 15" of vacuum using the comp cams 68H cam. I would never go back to vacuum brakes. The Bendix Hydro units have a much better and more consistant feel at the pedal and really improve how well the front binders work. Word of caution, take it easy at 1st until you get used to them or you may have to peel your girl friends face off your windshield!

 

[gbodyaddict]

When I put in the "built" 350R in my 80' Cutlass I installed the Bendix Hydroboost from a later model G body Diesel car. The whole thing is a bolt in but be sure to grab the whole system. The OEM set-up uses dual pulleys for safety should a belt break so grab the crank pulley too. The brake pedal is different too so take that too. The Diesel car pump resevoir has the extra fitting for the return line or you can tee off like in the Car Craft article. I bought my whole set-up that had new hoses and master for $10. The factory Hydroboost has an internal accumulator that makes it more compact and a cleaner looking install. This will give you 3 good assisted stops if something fails. As it turns out, I probably didn't need to do this swap as my Rocket Engine still pulls @ 15" of vacuum using the comp cams 68H cam. I would never go back to vacuum brakes. The Bendix Hydro units have a much better and more consistant feel at the pedal and really improve how well the front binders work. Word of caution, take it easy at 1st until you get used to them or you may have to peel your girl friends face off your windshield!

:lol:

 

[2000.malibu.ls]

work. Word of caution, take it easy at 1st until you get used to them or you may have to peel your girl friends face off your windshield!

a true car guy would just leave it there! lol