Manual Brakes or Hydroboost - Help me choose

SHould I switch to manual brakes or comp[lete the hydroboost instalation?

  • Finish the hydroboost.

    Votes: 8 36.4%
  • Switch back to manual brakes as Zora intended.

    Votes: 9 40.9%
  • FInd someone competent to finish the job.

    Votes: 1 4.5%
  • Get a horse.

    Votes: 4 18.2%

  • Total voters
    22

73 Mike

I'll drive it someday
Joined
Mar 30, 2008
Messages
714
Location
Boston, MA
OK guys, it is time for me to choose once and for all. After checking all the evidence, my car is certainlya manual brakes car. It was converted to power brakes (incompetently) and then I converted to hydroboost (jury is still out on the quality of that one).

I'm at a crossroads now. The hydroboost is in and the hydraulic unit works fine. It does bind though. From earlier posts, Ive discovered that the clevid rod and brake switch striker are reversed (as they should be for a manual brakes car).

Please vote for which way I should go. Either go to manual brakes (need a new MC and the two lines to the distribution block) or finish the hydroboost (only need a power brake striker bar).

Gene probably shouldn't vote. I'll simply add one vote to the hydroboost choice. TT probably shouldn't either. I'll add 1000 votes to choice 4. :lol:
 
OK guys, it is time for me to choose once and for all. After checking all the evidence, my car is certainlya manual brakes car. It was converted to power brakes (incompetently) and then I converted to hydroboost (jury is still out on the quality of that one).

I'm at a crossroads now. The hydroboost is in and the hydraulic unit works fine. It does bind though. From earlier posts, Ive discovered that the clevid rod and brake switch striker are reversed (as they should be for a manual brakes car).

Please vote for which way I should go. Either go to manual brakes (need a new MC and the two lines to the distribution block) or finish the hydroboost (only need a power brake striker bar).

Gene probably shouldn't vote. I'll simply add one vote to the hydroboost choice. TT probably shouldn't either. I'll add 1000 votes to choice 4. :lol:


JUST finished for this go round on paint, and so I voted for the OBVIOUS CHOICE,

CASE CLOSED.....

but then again, I"m a touchy feely type....


:hissyfit::shocking::p
 
OK guys, it is time for me to choose once and for all. After checking all the evidence, my car is certainlya manual brakes car. It was converted to power brakes (incompetently) and then I converted to hydroboost (jury is still out on the quality of that one).

If this picture you posted (in the other thread) is a picture of your firewall, your car left the factory as a power brake car.

prerepairbrakehole.jpg
 
Take a pic of your pedal set, the manual brake one is different from the power brake one,.

Who was it here that never saw a lower column support bracket, was it you Gene? Remember someone here said they'd never seen one...in the pic above, there it is!
 
Take a pic of your pedal set, the manual brake one is different from the power brake one,.

Who was it here that never saw a lower column support bracket, was it you Gene? Remember someone here said they'd never seen one...in the pic above, there it is!

Don't think it was ME, the only thing making sense is that routhly U shaped bracket the interlock cable is attached to on the lower left there, two bolts sandwich it with the column bracket inside the car....my only guess....
 
The interlock is connected to the U shaped bracket, which is indeed the lower column bracket, but that's not the only function. Even later C3s that don't have the interlock cable still have the bracket (with hole and all). Main function is to secure the lower part of the column.
The bracket has 1 stud and one carriage bolt and indeed bolts to the lower flange on the column sandwiching the firewall.

Pretty sure it was you...my memory hardly ever fails me.
 
The interlock is connected to the U shaped bracket, which is indeed the lower column bracket, but that's not the only function. Even later C3s that don't have the interlock cable still have the bracket (with hole and all). Main function is to secure the lower part of the column.
The bracket has 1 stud and one carriage bolt and indeed bolts to the lower flange on the column sandwiching the firewall.

Pretty sure it was you...my memory hardly ever fails me.

OK, we can look at it that way too, just a backing plate to sandwich more area of the firewall/bulkhead and increase strength via the two bolts...

semantics...

:lol::cool:
 
I voted #4 to make the result more interesting :D

You're almost done with the Hydroboost so I would just finish it. See how you like it and then decide if you want to convert to manual brakes ...

Hydroboost sure isn't bad but it depends on the individual driver and how he (or she) likes the pedal 'feel' or the lack of it as many describe it....
 
Not a total hi-jack....but I am trying to find a more aggressive pad compound for the street. I don't care about rotor wear as I only put 2-3 k on each per year. I just want good stopping with cold pads. TT? All my C-3's have manual brakes and will stay that way.
 
Not a total hi-jack....but I am trying to find a more aggressive pad compound for the street. I don't care about rotor wear as I only put 2-3 k on each per year. I just want good stopping with cold pads. TT? All my C-3's have manual brakes and will stay that way.

performance friction standard carbon metallic or Z carbon metallic. The Z pads don't stop as well cold though.
 
OK guys, it is time for me to choose once and for all. After checking all the evidence, my car is certainlya manual brakes car. It was converted to power brakes (incompetently) and then I converted to hydroboost (jury is still out on the quality of that one).

If this picture you posted (in the other thread) is a picture of your firewall, your car left the factory as a power brake car.

prerepairbrakehole.jpg

Actually, this is part of the evidence for it having left the factory as a manual brake car. Having said this, there is no question that some components have been changed so the firewall bulkhead certainly could have been spliced in.

Not as many votes for #4 as I expected.

Good read though. Thanks for the Saturday evening entertainment.
 
What makes you say it's evidence that it left as a manual car? because someone hacked up the firewall? The lower hole looks original, that's for a power brake car, the top one is the hacked part, for a manual. Then again, it only has 4 bolt holes, but the actual manual (factory) holes are not in the same location as the top ones for a power booster they are about 2/3rds the height between top and bottom holes (closer to top) so if converted you'd have seen 6 holes.
 
Actually, this is part of the evidence for it having left the factory as a manual brake car. Having said this, there is no question that some components have been changed so the firewall bulkhead certainly could have been spliced in.

That picture is of an original power brake car that has been converted (poorly) to manual. There is absolutely no "evidence" that it left the factory as anything other than a power brake car.
 
Actually, this is part of the evidence for it having left the factory as a manual brake car. Having said this, there is no question that some components have been changed so the firewall bulkhead certainly could have been spliced in.

That picture is of an original power brake car that has been converted (poorly) to manual. There is absolutely no "evidence" that it left the factory as anything other than a power brake car.

You two could be right, but I think otherwise. The pic that you found isn't the best to show this, but it's the only one I have left and unfortunately, I've already fixed it and painted it so I can't take a new one.

Comes down to preponderance of evidence rather than one piece. I may not have put my thoughts all in one place so here goes.

Evidence for power brakes:

- car had power brakes when I got it
- brake pedal assembly front mounting plate has the holes for power brakes (4) and not the manual brake stud holes (2)
- MC that came with the car was a power brake one, though it was not an original one
- the car came with pretty much every option (PS, PW, A/C, hard top for vert...) Seems strange (though certainly not impossible) that they'd order it with manual brakes. Power brakes to manual ratio in 73 was about 4:1

Evidence for manual brakes:

- Power brake booster was an aftermarket unit
- brake pedal is configured for manual brakes with the clevis on top and the switch striker below
- the brake switch striker is for a manual brake car (a little different shape and size)
- brake lines from MC to distributor block are for a manual brake car (longer and bent a little differently) and the fittings at the block don't appear to have ever been touched
- The vacuum fitting on the carb was not stock (though neither was the carb)
- the vacuum hose and check valve were not stock

On the fence:

- the firewall pic shows both holes. Looking very closely, I felt that the power brake hole was drilled (cleaner and slightly less centered). I also had the impression that the two manual brake holes were torn out (Tim suggested a Ginsu knife had been used). The bondo material used in the repair is messier and on the inside edge of the manual brake hole hinting that the repair was done, and then the power brake hole was drilled. Also, the bonding material used nearby across the top of the bulkhead looks different than that on the rest of the firewall.


On balance, clearly it has been switched one way or another in it's history. If I ever find the tank sheet, I suppose I'll know for sure, but in the mean time I'm leaning towards the more obscure parts (striker and lines) being original rather than the very hard to change pedal assembly.

In any case, thanks for your input guys. I can't do any work on the car or motor this weekend and this has been a nice diversion.

On a technical note, how do you multiquote? I tried to do so with BBShark and TT and it ignored me
 
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Kind of an interesting twist. Willcox posted the following pic on CF for another manual to power brake post (presumably from an AIM). It shows both bulkheads. Note that the one on the power brake side is elongated.

Powervsstandardbrakebulkhead.jpg

The one on my pic looks more like 2 round holes but...

I also didn't realize that the manual brake pedal assembly had 4 holes (two studs from the inside and two bolts from the outside if the pic is accurate). I assumed that my pedal assembly would hat to have been replaced if switched from manula to power, but perhaps not.
 
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What makes you say it's evidence that it left as a manual car? because someone hacked up the firewall? The lower hole looks original, that's for a power brake car, the top one is the hacked part, for a manual. Then again, it only has 4 bolt holes, but the actual manual (factory) holes are not in the same location as the top ones for a power booster they are about 2/3rds the height between top and bottom holes (closer to top) so if converted you'd have seen 6 holes.

Looks like there could be 6 bolt holes. Look at the holes below the 2 top holes where the bracket is showing through. Or it could just be a bad angle on the pic.
 
That oddly shaped hole is only present in the steel insert glued in there, not in the fiberglass at all! It's shaped like that so that the same steel insert can be used on both style cars, same firewall apart from drilling pattern and bolted down pedal box. The reason for the top to be narrower is that the hole that the master engages in is much smaller than the large hole for the brake booster harmonica seal. Those pics are misleading to say the least. The outlined part is a steel plate! I know, I took all that stuff apart when I fixed my firewall and bonded it all back together again later. I'll see if I can find my old pics, it's clearly visible on them
 
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