upgrading to power brakes 65valiant?

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kielbasavw

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Is it possible and what do I need? Brakes went out on my 65 valiant. Worked fine when parked but in the morning Had no brakes what so ever, flying down driveway in reverse.... very scary. So I'm guessing the master went out since I see no leaks.

I will go through the rest of the brakes as well. Wheel cylinders and what not. I have 9inch drums and it's a slant six car
 
Get rid of stock single reservoir and upgrade to dual reservoir. Power brakes are NOT needed at this time. Be sure to check that a wheel cylinder did not blow out--major fluid leak.
 
My 69 Dart had dual reservoirs.

Power brakes are good if you plan front disks later (or have them now), but aren't needed for drum-drum. To mount a booster, you need the stand-off brackets and lever from an A-body, or buy a new one (~$250). I mounted an late 90's cloud car booster on my 65 Dart.

Original dual MC's w/ 4 mounting holes that bolt up directly are cast iron. You can mount an aluminum 2-hole MC using an adapter plate (~$50). I am cheaper and drilled 2 new holes for one in my 64 Valiant.
 
BillGrissom said:
My 69 Dart had dual reservoirs.

Power brakes are good if you plan front disks later (or have them now), but aren't needed for drum-drum. To mount a booster, you need the stand-off brackets and lever from an A-body, or buy a new one (~$250). I mounted an late 90's cloud car booster on my 65 Dart.

Original dual MC's w/ 4 mounting holes that bolt up directly are cast iron. You can mount an aluminum 2-hole MC using an adapter plate (~$50). I am cheaper and drilled 2 new holes for one in my 64 Valiant.
Click to expand...


whats a cloud car?



on another note I used hydroboost but its a very touchy setup
 
66plyValiant said:
whats a cloud car?
Click to expand...
Slang for a Breeze, Cirrus, Stratus. I robbed a ~1999 Breeze as I recall. If you get a booster/MC from a newer car, insure it doesn't have bubble flare fittings. You can actually make those w/ a dbl flare tool (youtube) and the tubing size is identical to standard 3/16" brake line, just stated in mm.
 
BillGrissom said:
My 69 Dart had dual reservoirs.

Power brakes are good if you plan front disks later (or have them now)
Click to expand...


Power brakes are unnecessary with discs provided you size the M/C cylinder diameter properly. I personally prefer the manual setup due to better brake feel. A manual M/C from a 70 A-body with discs works well although quality units are hard to come by (most are cheap Chinese).
 
BillGrissom said:
Slang for a Breeze, Cirrus, Stratus. I robbed a ~1999 Breeze as I recall. If you get a booster/MC from a newer car, insure it doesn't have bubble flare fittings. You can actually make those w/ a dbl flare tool (youtube) and the tubing size is identical to standard 3/16" brake line, just stated in mm.
Click to expand...

I tried to mount a 2000 neon booster on mine before going hydroboost but it just wasen't going to work without the factory A body brackets that hold the original booster
 
kielbasavw said:
Is it possible and what do I need? Brakes went out on my 65 valiant. Worked fine when parked but in the morning Had no brakes what so ever, flying down driveway in reverse.... very scary. So I'm guessing the master went out since I see no leaks.

I will go through the rest of the brakes as well. Wheel cylinders and what not. I have 9inch drums and it's a slant six car
Click to expand...


I'm a firm believer in keeping things as simple as possible. For your app I would just stick to the manual drums & if you want an upgrade go to 10". With a /6 you're not going 90mph & these work fine. They have the advantage of being cheap & a direct bolt-in. People will give me crap but I would stick with the single M/C- if you get a quality unit & make regular system flushes they are trouble free. You should also keep your parking brake in good working order.

If you go to discs you will need to to do a decent amount of work & some planning. As a minimum you will need a dual M/C that's set up for discs (i.e. has a residual valve for the rear drums) & the system should have a front-to-rear proportioning valve of some sort. Be prepared to do lots of double flaring & tube bending which is tedious work.

I have a semi-exotic Wilwood manual disc setup on mine but this is overkill for most. Install was easy but spent most time on all the custom lines that needed fabbed.
 
I used a 15/16 dia MC that improves pedal effort for a disc/drum combo. I've seen where some claimed that early 70's demons with a disc/drum manual brakes used a 1" bore however others claimed a 15/16 dia.

I found the 15/16 cylinder United 36338 still available thru RockAuto at Wholesaler closeout price of $21 including shipping
 
66plyValiant said:
I tried to mount a 2000 neon booster on mine before going hydroboost but it just wasen't going to work without the factory A body brackets that hold the original booster
Click to expand...

I put the 99 Breeze booster/MC on A-body stand-off brackets & lever. Just had to rat-tail file the bracket holes a bit and maybe add some washers to get the right axial distance (forgot). The bracket holding the adjustable proportioning valve is from an LH car and uses the MC bolts. That reservoir is filled with DOT 5 (silicone) since I don't like rust.
 

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