Power Disc Brakes Installation - Braking The Habit

A special pedal arm is required with the power-brake setup. Remove the pedal from underneath the dash. We're showing the retaining clip that needs to be removed from the pivot shaft to remove the pedal arm outside the car for a better viewpoint. The clip works by prying the outer face away from the shaft and then sliding the clip off.

With the old pedal arm out of the car, it's easy to see that the new and longer pedal arm will provide better leverage for enhanced stopping power. The new pedal will mount in another hole higher up in the pedal support to produce the proper pedal ratio. Most cars, including ours, had the hole already in place. If yours does not, the Master Power Brakes instructions show you where the hole needs to be drilled, which also necessitates removing the complete pedal-support brace from the dash.

Here, the new pedal arm is installed into the car. We've yet to mount the booster or hook the pedal to the booster.

With the booster positioned properly, it's time to button up things underneath the dashboard. When these fasteners are tight, work inside the car is almost complete.

This close-up shows the correct brake-light switch installation. It can be tricky getting the switch back in and working correctly. Be sure to check brake-light operation before driving the car.

With our new power-brake vacuum booster installed onto the firewall, we can mock up the lines for the new distribution block, and we'll be ready for the master cylinder. The proportioning valve will come off the stud and then be replaced on it after the master cylinder has been installed.

Locate a vacuum source for the power-brake booster. We connected to this vacuum source directly on the intake manifold. The carburetor baseplate would be another possible vacuum source. Since we had an automatic transmission and a dual diaphragm '68 distributor, we had two small vacuum lines that needed a home. We drilled the Master Power Brakes fitting and epoxied two small tubes in place to accept the smaller hoses.

Don't make the mistake of installing the master cylinder onto the car dry. You'll be forcing a lot of air through the entire system. Bench bleed the master first by placing it in a bench vise and bleeding back into the reservoir as shown. Continue pumping the cylinder until no more air bubbles appear.

Here's our completed Master Power installation. After a thorough bleeding of the system at all four corners, the master cylinder will be topped off and sealed shut. We recommend forcing all of the old fluid out of the system before concluding the bleeding process.