Master Cylinder Upgrade?

[JBreu]

Hi the hydro boots system it about the best system for good stopping power.like the ones on the chev astro van or a diesel cars or trucks.

Is this a direct swap for our cars??? Any pics?? Turbomatt...Can you post pics of your upgrade as well?? I like all are interested in this kind of swap 8)

 

[Bonnewagon]

If you check RockAuto's site and look at the specs they list the bores for all masters. First you need to know what size bore your's is, to be able to decide what will be better. In my case the original 81' Malibu master was 7/8" and I used an 80' Firebird master with a 1" bore I had laying around. It was the ugly cast iron type, but the pedal travel was way less and the feel was more substantial. Then I found out the 83' Bonneville had the same 1" bore and was the aluminum body/plastic reservoir type. If you check you will find some even have a 1 1/8" bore.

 

[turbomatt]

I'm gonna try to get some pics this week for you guys, definitely worth the swap, no need to change the booster, it bolts right up, i think its the same master that fits b body wagons too. i think i payed 17 dollars for the master and 4 bucks for the fittings, another good upgrade is the b body spindles with the 12 inch rotor swap, havent done that yet but looking forward to doing that soon. 😀

 

[Bonnewagon]

The ports are the same size, just reversed. The biggest master available for GM passenger cars is 1 and 1/8" and came on Caprice and Cadillac. If yours is a tiny 7/8" or even 1 and 1/16" it would be an improvement. But you need to determine what size your's is. Here is the bible of brake books, and a wealth of information.

 

[dr78442]

I used an 80 or 81 turbo trans -am with 4 wheel disc. It has an 1 1/8 bore and looks just like the one that came off the car. You could also use a 1978 corvette it has the same bore but is the cast iron looking type

 

[carpenter383]

What reason are you guys doing this? Simply for less pedal travel?
I would personally prefer more braking power along with more pedal travel over the opposite.
I could see the need if it went along with bigger calipers or something, but not with stock brakes every where else. :?

 

[larryo454]

Hi the hydro boots system it about the best system for good stopping power.like the ones on the chev astro van or a diesel cars or trucks.

Is this a direct swap for our cars??? Any pics?? Turbomatt...Can you post pics of your upgrade as well?? I like all are interested in this kind of swap 8)

Hi JBreu i don't have the system on my car because has a s10 manual steering box on it and u need a power steering pump to make it work.I had the astro van system but didn't use it but if the rod was too long all u need is a spacer block of alum. I did find a bit of info for u on it.

http://www.gmhightechperformance.com/te ... index.html

 

[Bonnewagon]

There is a trade off swapping masters. The cars usually came with a small bore master so that the pedal effort would be low, and the trade off is longer pedal travel. Think of a hydraulic jack, same principal. Great for Grandma, bad for a hot rod. Using a larger bore master fills the calipers and wheel cylinders quicker, thus less pedal travel, but the trade off is more pedal effort. But when we are using a power booster, the increased effort is negligible. That's why non-power brakes use a tiny bore master, like 7/8", and power discs use 1+ 1/8".

 

[pontiacgp]

In the search for a better pedal feel im going to upgrade my lines to the stainless steel braided ones, and i wanted to upgrade my master cylinder to one that has a bigger bore, so I was wonder what cars have a big master that will just bolt on with little to no mods on a G-body? thanks in advance.

if you want a better pedal feel have you considered going with manual brakes?