astro van h-boost with auto, no angle bracket, and no bodylift

[malcolmzilla]

Great pics, thanks Ken - I could have saved on the throttle cable expense! Curious if you can get your valve cover off?

IIRC, heres the boss on the astrovan-boost that hits the shifter when flipped 180 degrees. It also looks like the inlet hose would interfere too.

 

[Madgyver]

Screaminreel gave this unit to me, as he went with a Lincoln unit and had this one sitting around - the Astro seem easier to find.

I got mine from TOFIC...............;D

 

[malcolmzilla]

Tonights progress, removed it to tighten up locknut and install snap ring, trimmed down the clocking plate, sanded the booster extension, painted everything, welded up pedal extension, then back in, now working on brake lines from master to proportioning valve: front circuit bolts in, the rear needs a different nut as the astro lines are one size larger and the hole in the astro fitting is too big for my new but original sized line.

Aiming for a bleed Friday, get the saginaw pump in, hoses and throttle cable and alley test drive.

 

[ken75ranger]

Great pics, thanks Ken - I could have saved on the throttle cable expense! Curious if you can get your valve cover off?

Your welcome. It is handy having scrap steel around.
I took the valve cover off over the weekend. I leave the bracket on the firewall and take the booster-mc combo off the brackets. Then just put it to the side enough to work on everything. Leave the lines attached, there's enough slack to move it.

 

[TOFIC]

beautiful job!! Keep it up!! you will not regret it.
TOFIC

 

[malcolmzilla]

OK not much progress last night - found an adapter for the rear circuit MC to proportioning valve, pulled the pedal to remove the old input rod stud so the brake switch would fit and also to line it up with the input rod a bit better, cleaned the astro master and mounted it. Need to pick up a preflared line, a 20" was too short once bent up, (my flaring tool won't grip 3/16" anymore) and close everything up and bleed tonight.

No brake lights, checked the fuse so I reckon i'll pull the switch out and fiddle.

 

[malcolmzilla]

It's in, bled and running, new Saginaw pump too. Had a real hard time getting the front circuit bench bled, then the front brake bleeders were plugged up. Booster and box bled real easy though.

Had to cut and weld Tom's PS bracket to fit the Lincoln dual return (FFS), then it didn't clear the 90 degree fitting on the box (ag and hydraulic stores closed here for holiday), so to get it running had to weld up a 2nd adjustment nut to swing the pump up higher and go with a longer belt. Also sucking the pulley on the new pump was a PITA. And the BCBroncos throttle cable bracket interfered with my kickdown and would work loose off the carb stud so I fabbed a new one that clears and stays put.

But boy does it STOP, locks up 35's no issue - a bit touchy tho and less pedal travel, seems high now - any tips? I can't see how the Astro vans required that much line pressure with dinky tires - did they use a pressure regulator somewhere downstream of the booster or way more arc in the pedal? I am using the matched Astro disc/drum master and the stock Bronco disc/drum proportionning valve - on a good note the rears do lock up before the fronts but a bit more pedal travel / feel is desired.

Pics later - gonna clean up the hose routing and find some tighter AN adapters - get the pump back down and the booster to pump line routed same as the return and pump hoses.

 

[KManuel]

found an adapter for the rear circuit MC to proportioning valve

In an Astro M/C which port are you using for the front and which for the rear?
The M/C I just bought has th 1/4 line in the front port, and 3/16 in the rear. Looking at volume, I would think the front resivior would be the front?.........but fluid copasity, the rear resivior is larger.

Am I over thinking this one?

 

[bax]

Here is the straight astro booster turned on it's side with the master mounted up.

 

[malcolmzilla]

KM, I re-used my stock Bronco proportioning / residual valve - it had different sized fittings for each circuit so I just cross referenced them back to the stock master.

In the absence of that, I believe the small reservoir is the drum circuit and the larger one the disc, so the rear port to the fronts, front port to the rears, maybe also an inline residual valve and might be needed if you're not using the Bronco disc drum proportioning valve. I read that lots of folks got away with no proportioning valve on the rear drums.

 

[KManuel]

KM, I re-used my stock Bronco proportioning / residual valve - it had different sized fittings for each circuit so I just cross referenced them back to the stock master.

So the old fittings matched up to the new M/C, and this is what you did? With no issues?

I have a 66 with chevy disc front with inline adj proportioning valve, so some fine tuning is not a big deal.

 

[malcolmzilla]

IIRC, the front brake circuit (rear of master) the stock Ford fitting worked and threaded in and sealed, the rear circuit I had to locate an adapter - my Astro disc/drum master had the same size fittings front and rear. I had a disc drum stock Ford master before.


I'll snap some pics tonight.

 

[KManuel]

OK, thanks, I feel better. that's the way I thought it went, but the larger line thew me off.
hopefully get it installed tomorrow

 

[malcolmzilla]

Yes my Astro master had 1/4" line into the fittings as opposed to Fords 3/16"...

 

[KManuel]

Decided to see if the 3/16 inverted would seat on the 1/4. Holds great. Nothing like the existing lines hooking right up to a new m/c.

Damn the hydroboost is touchy!!!

Thanks for the help

 

[malcolmzilla]

Glad you got it working.

Here's my pics... And yah, the Ford 3/16" tube seated on the Chev 1/4" just fine, you can also see my adapter for the rear circuit.

Might work on simplifying the hydro fittings, you know, endless pursuit of underhood "feng shui"... ;D