Rebuilt brake booster

My OEM booster died recently. Time for a rebuild.

I sent it to Power Brake Booster, PDX, Ore.

What a difference!

I've not had consistent brakes for decades. They 'went away' with the install of a 292º/.508" cam. I always figured the poor brake operation a result of that cam. Having put in a bit less cam years ago (HE-3844), I wasn't surprised that the brakes didn't work much better. I would get two, maybe three pedals out of them before the booster quit. I added a storage canister...not to much better effect.

I got used to it.

The rebuilt booster? I have pressed/released the pedal SIX times at idle, on a slight slope, to have the brakes work every time. It's a huge improvement.

Vacuum at idle has not changed (6.5in/hg, 850rpm, 12º BTDC), that being an indication the OEM booster had not been merely leaking for years. I'll give it to a 'better' if not simply just 'new' booster.

If your brakes are iffy...and maybe always have been...and you figure it's your cam's fault, you might be surprised at the positive effect you will get from a rebuilt booster.

Wish I had done it years ago. My brakes were never a problem, really. I just knew I could count on an iron-leg approach from time to time. Still, them working 'mo-better' is 'mo-useful'.

diaphragm gets hard with age is why.. new ones are soft and stretchy!

Im going to order the kit and rebuild the booster myself. Not much to them inside, although some require some special tools to change the diaphragm. Nothing that cant be made up to do the job.
Check out harmon classic brakes for hard to find brake parts and kits.

DIY is fine..and something I've done for decades. I've got more stories of 'professional' screwups than you have the time to listen to...things along the line of an NHRA record holding machine shop that made me a custom set of pistons that raised the heads 3/8" off the block deck.

When the cost of the parts equals or exceeds the cost of someone else doing it...why bother with it? For no good reason I figured...so I didn't.

A Midland kit for my car is the same as the cost for someone else to fuss with the entire mess....someone that has been doing the fussing for many years.

Nope. Not much inside of a booster. Also, not at all worth my time (and I have a LOT of it) according to me to deal with it.

YMMV of course.

Not sure where they source new diaphragms, since that is the main part which fails. The air-valve on the input side is the other item. In my 65 Newport, the booster had a hole where the rubber got hard from gas fumes (w/ today's alcohol), even though I installed an inline carbon filter. That was the Midland-Ross one which is easy to disassemble (Bendix isn't). I couldn't find a diaphragm anywhere. I bought flat neoprene rubber and made my own, which worked when tested off the car but I never tried running it. It probably won't work since I later checked my rubber stock and it had developed cracks just sitting in my garage. Instead, I drilled new holes to mount a 73 Dart booster I had around, which was identical except for the bolt pattern. I later lucked into a new booster on rockauto for $75 (gone). On my 65 Dart, I installed a booster & MC from a newer car which parts can be sourced easier (95-99 Breeze), as you see in my avatar. I had to rat-tail the holes in the Dart stand-off brackets slightly to fit.