Brakes help

[Billy Nees]

Originally Posted by Mark Yacavone

Okay. First step is take the pedal out and drill a hole about an inch up. They are case hardened , so use a drill press.
That's the free one , before getting out the Plasti-Card.

Also, raise up the master cylinder the same amount.
It might help you to look up my old "Under the Index for Under a Grand" thread. I posted some pics on there of how I took off the booster and modified the pedal.

[Mark Yacavone]

Originally Posted by Billy Nees

Also, raise up the master cylinder the same amount.
It might help you to look up my old "Under the Index for Under a Grand" thread. I posted some pics on there of how I took off the booster and modified the pedal.

The factory power eliminator aluminum piece raised it up some, too. Very rare!

[RobbieRacer]

Thanks Mark and Billy. I never thought to raise the master cylinder. I can do that. Would making the pedal 2 inch longer do the same thing? More leverage.

[Rory McNeil]

The best bet would be if you could find a complete manual brake setup from a low option early FOX Mustang, Fairmont etc. That way you get the correct manual brake pedal, the aluminum master cylinder firewall mounting bracket, and master cylinder. As Mike Graham mentioned, the manual brake pedal pedal location on the pedal bracket is also different, but both holes are drilled, so simple to move the pedal pivot location. Not sure what the caliper bore size on your larger front disc brakes are, but that could potentially be a problem. My 85 Mustang started life as a 4 cylinder car, and I retained the small factory front disc brakes, and stock rear brakes from the 5.0 doner Mustang, and swapped all the factory manual brake pedal, master , and bracket from a stripper junkyard Mustang. Had no problems stopping the car from 107 MPH, and even with the much stronger bracket engine, going 128 MPH, the stock, small brakes worked pretty good.

[Dave Noll]

Originally Posted by Mark Yacavone

Okay. First step is take the pedal out and drill a hole about an inch up. They are case hardened , so use a drill press.
That's the free one , before getting out the Plasti-Card.

Umm, If it is actually Case Hardened, A solid carbide drill bit is not going through it. I like the welding in an extra 2", that will give more leverage but will put the pedal close to the floor.

My car has 2 stubs welded on the brake pedal lever from the factory. I also put as large of a Rear wheel cylinder I could find on the Fronts. (4 wheel drums)

[Mark Yacavone]

Originally Posted by Dave Noll

Umm, If it is actually Case Hardened, A solid carbide drill bit is not going through it. I like the welding in an extra 2", that will give more leverage but will put the pedal close to the floor.

My car has 2 stubs welded on the brake pedal lever from the factory. I also put as large of a Rear wheel cylinder I could find on the Fronts. (4 wheel drums)

Maybe not the correct term, but definitely hardened ..You could see it on the metal.
It creaked and groaned and smoked , but it went, on a good size drill press . Kinda like drilling a center bolt into mono leaf springs..Ahnold probably could have done it a little easier.

[Alan Nyhus]

Originally Posted by Dave Noll

Umm, If it is actually Case Hardened, A solid carbide drill bit is not going through it.

Case hardening only hardens the surface. The material under the hardened surface remains unaltered. -Al

[jerry witzel]

Here's an adapter for the master cylinder. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Pro-5-0-79-...wAAOSw7cZcM86v

[Dave Muller]

For what it's worth I changed the pedal ratio and wound up never installing the proportioning valve that I bought. If anything the pedal is a little soft, but I can get over 1000 PSI easily in one shot and it holds fine on the line (as long as the 2-step in on...).

It took a could of tries to find the right bore size for the master cylinder but it was worth taking the time to work it out. I wound up with 1 1/8 inch.

[Mark Yacavone]

Originally Posted by Alan Nyhus

Case hardening only hardens the surface. The material under the hardened surface remains unaltered. -Al

Makes sense. Might be then. Once you get the drill bit started, it'll go.
I'm sure the pedal arm is hardened for safety reasons.