New Location for Hydroboost

[Buddy's 70]

beautiful looking work at least....have u put many miles on it since the install? hi speed stopping, trailing etc???, for a guy who lacks space under the hood, I would consider it....

Actually I have put on about 150 miles of just in town driving(and another 100 or so miles on the freeway),testing out the system and it works great. I also have put another 400+ miles(according to my gps) in the mountains on real 4wd trails that included mud,snow,and rocks that are about the size of 35" tires(thats good size rocks for around here)and pretty steep angles going both up and down and everything worked great without any flaws.As for the "slop" in the linkages,the brake rod thru the firewall has an adjustment that takes out any of that,as a matter of fact it has less now than before when it was manual brakes.The shaft isnt attached to the actual boost,but it is all attached to the same firewall and those"pillow block bearings" are actually 5/8" heim joints with grade 8 washers. The bracket is made up of 3/16" and 1/4" material and grade 8 bolts. The pin going into the boost is a shortened factory pin that came on the boost.My boost set-up came off an astro van and the mc is 1 1/4" so my pedal is firm and not real soft. As stated by others it doesnt take much pressure on the pedal to stop the vehicle.I also upgraded the front calipers to the thunderbird calipers. This system has worked great in all different stopping scenarios that i have tried,I even sent a friend of mine into the windshield(he didnt think it would stop that fast and we were only doing about 30mph).

 

[Mark]

Concept is excellent!

 

[roundhouse]

I remember seeing an 80's Mitsubishi that had the brake MC and booster in the center of the car, operated with a cable.

 

[NJB71]

Actually I have put on about 150 miles of just in town driving(and another 100 or so miles on the freeway),testing out the system and it works great. I also have put another 400+ miles(according to my gps) in the mountains on real 4wd trails that included mud,snow,and rocks that are about the size of 35" tires(thats good size rocks for around here)and pretty steep angles going both up and down and everything worked great without any flaws.As for the "slop" in the linkages,the brake rod thru the firewall has an adjustment that takes out any of that,as a matter of fact it has less now than before when it was manual brakes.The shaft isnt attached to the actual boost,but it is all attached to the same firewall and those"pillow block bearings" are actually 5/8" heim joints with grade 8 washers. The bracket is made up of 3/16" and 1/4" material and grade 8 bolts. The pin going into the boost is a shortened factory pin that came on the boost.My boost set-up came off an astro van and the mc is 1 1/4" so my pedal is firm and not real soft. As stated by others it doesnt take much pressure on the pedal to stop the vehicle.I also upgraded the front calipers to the thunderbird calipers. This system has worked great in all different stopping scenarios that i have tried,I even sent a friend of mine into the windshield(he didnt think it would stop that fast and we were only doing about 30mph).

OK sounds good, let me know when ur going to produce and how much?

 

[ol gray mare]

I agree with 70 STEVE. The pin is probably the weak point, and I can't see this set up is more likely to rip out of the firewall than the stock PB booster.

 

[OX1]

Looks great to me!!!!! Anyone who routinely pushes, on a working HB setup, hard enough to rip it off the firewall must have a pretty flat face and gone through 10 or so windshields already.

The great thing about HB is very little travel and very little foot pressure needed. Even if those linkages add a bit of slop, I bet it's still less travel vs the amount of force generated, over the best working vac booster setup.

 

[Dave]

Look goods. I like the Blue and Yellow.

Looks like you are running an automatic. Here is what I did to keep it simple and reliable.

http://classicbroncos.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1352198&postcount=111

http://classicbroncos.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1360053&postcount=118

 

[TBS-POPS]

FYI: Using the pedal assy/ hydro unit out of an F450 moves the unit over the fender as in this thread. also gives you hyd clutch as well if needed.A nice easy swap!

Nice job on this one though!!!

 

[daves bronco]

looks good, I think it is nice work, could it be improved
maybe but it is just the first one. Someone will impove it and then someone else will make that a little better, and thats how it goes.

I am not a P.E., however I work with P.E's to engineer systems every day, and I always teach them to eliminate variables which could lead to failure at every step. In my experience, this is the best way.

I understand your point but in that line of thought we would all be driving on solid rubber tires, less parts and more relieable, or worse not even be allowed to do anything risky, because the simplest is the safest. what one person thinks is a needed part another thinks is garbage i.e. seatbelt or airbag. Alot less parts (that can brake) in a car if you take out the airbag, and some would be just fine with that (bronco divers). Others who have been in a wreak, would touch that car.

 

[Past_Miner]

I'll start out by saying I work wit P.E's every day too. I'm not a P.E. but I am a highly experienced mechanical engineer. The problem with P.E's is getting them to focus on the actual problem at hand and to be reasonable with their assumptions. Maybe the real problem is professional liability insurance and litigation.. who knows. Enough of my soapbox...

I like the concept and the basic design. If you don't mind, I'll probably do something similar for our ongoing build. Nice work.

 

[Buddy's 70]

Looks great to me!!!!! Anyone who routinely pushes, on a working HB setup, hard enough to rip it off the firewall must have a pretty flat face and gone through 10 or so windshields already.

The great thing about HB is very little travel and very little foot pressure needed. Even if those linkages add a bit of slop, I bet it's still less travel vs the amount of force generated, over the best working vac booster setup.

Great explanation, Im not sure the one's commenting on the pedal pressure have had much experience with HB.

 

[Buddy's 70]

Thanks for the compliments and critcism about my little pet project hydroboost. It does seem that just looking at the pics there would be some slop in the linkages,but if you saw this in person you could tell that it doesnt have much play in the system.Dave that is a great way to do it also.TBS-POPS,thanks for the tip on the F450, although Ive never seen one of those at the local pick-a-part.I did this project complete(including paint and powdercoat) for under 250.00, which is cheaper than vac boost and I have something unique(at least to me).I am definitely not an engineer,just an average joe trying to come up with an easier and cheaper way to do something.Thanks for everyone's input!!!

 

[Hal9000]

Didn't read all the other responses but:

I like the fab work. Looks like you did a nice job. However, I accomplished the same thing by just modifying my brake pedal and drilling the firewall for a new mounting position. I think it was more work to do it the way you did.

 

[Devin]

Didn't read all the other responses but:

I like the fab work. Looks like you did a nice job. However, I accomplished the same thing by just modifying my brake pedal and drilling the firewall for a new mounting position. I think it was more work to do it the way you did.

Maybe, but it gives guys with a manual tranny an idea if they don't want to use the angle bracket.

 

[Buddy's 70]

Didn't read all the other responses but:

I like the fab work. Looks like you did a nice job. However, I accomplished the same thing by just modifying my brake pedal and drilling the firewall for a new mounting position. I think it was more work to do it the way you did.

Thanks for the compliment. I wasn't necessarily looking for an easier way, I wanted to do something that was different and unique. I'm sure the way I did it was more work but it also will work with an auto or manual tranny.

 

[Hal9000]

I have a manual tranny.... No problems with clutch interference at all. In fact, clearing the steering column was the only real issue.

FWIW, your solution was probably less risky. If I hadn't been able to make my mods work, it would have been harder to go backwards and undo what I had done. With the brackets, its probably a simple matter to go back to the stock configuration.

 

[Devin]

I have a manual tranny.... No problems with clutch interference at all. In fact, clearing the steering column was the only real issue.

FWIW, your solution was probably less risky. If I hadn't been able to make my mods work, it would have been harder to go backwards and undo what I had done. With the brackets, its probably a simple matter to go back to the stock configuration.

Ok, I would like to see pics of what you did.

 

[Hal9000]

No pics of the pedal, sorry... And my truck is under 5+ feet of snow at the moment, so nothing coming soon.

What I did was simple though. I just made a 4" extension off the left side of the brake pedal with a triangular brace for strength. Then duplicated the stock pushrod mount on the end of the extension and redrilled the firewall in the new outboard location.

For clearance, I had to trim the bottom of the pedal mount bracket by about 3/8" or so, and if I did it again, instead of a straight extension, I'd give the extension convex-upward curve to allow better clearance over the steering column. I had to go back and do some creative grinding to get everything to clear, so my handiwork doesn't look nearly as nice as I'd like it to.

 

[TOFIC]

Nice but the pedal shift does the same thing with less operating parts. Nice idea for the manual transmission crowd though. Sheer forces in the bracket would be my worry as the forces are being transferred and re-routed, not good with high forces. Other than that, nice looking affair and nicely done.
TOFIC

 

[bosshoff]

Hey buddy, you asked, so I told you what I think. I think you design leaves some room for improvement. That's my opinion. I didn't say it was a bad idea, nor did I take a shot at the fabrication. My gauge on things like this is "Would I pay/purchase it" from a vendor. I would answer no. I think you are still in the alpha stage of this design.

I still have not heard you explain why your grade 8 washer-mounted heim joints were bolted to the firewall, and not bolted to the bracket?

OX1 and Buddy, when you are talking about how hard you are pressing the pedals, and kissing windows, etc. I guess you are talking about when the unit is working, i.e. functioning properly. What about when it is not functioning, or god forbid, you engine dies, and you can't hold back your 37 inch tires, as you head down, down, down, relying only on the residual pressure charge in that resevoir to slow your truck, before you have only manual brakes left.

You will be standing on that pedal with all of your might, and you still don't think it would be better to mount your heims on the same bracket as the shaft? Give me a break.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpbkTncjEOs