alexrains

Dear forum experts,

my 1966 442 (pics and data are in my user gallery) seems to have a vacuum problem with the brake booster.

After some meters (yep, I am in Austria - no feet/miles), the engines runs un-smooth, when applying brakes, I hear some hissing from beneath the brake pedal and the pedal itself feels "stiffer".

Problem now is, that I attend a vintage rallye on Saturday and Sunday.

Can I just detach the vacuum hose from the booster side, seal it somehow and then drive on ?

Except for the decreased stopping power and increased force needed in my right leg, is there anything else to consider ?
I want to avoid any dangers or accidents during the rallye.

The new booster will be ordered, but that takes when coming from the US..

Thank you all for your comments.
Alex.

MDchanic

Yes.

Pull hose off of booster, put bolt in end of hose, use a hose clamp if obsessive.



No, but do make sure that you can stop quickly if you need to - it feels very different.

I find that when the booster is out, the best thing is to always brake with both feet.

Have fun!

- Eric

alexrains

Thank you, Eric.
Will practice bi-footed-braking :-)

joe_padavano

Keep in mind that because of the different mechanical ratio in the pedal, and possibly different bore sizes in the master and wheel cylinders, power brakes without the booster will require considerably more pedal force than manual brakes.

alexrains

Thank you for the advice, too.

Did a "practice" run two hours ago and it went quite well.

Amazingly, I found a privately sold, new booster (Bendix part) today in Austria and we will repair on Friday.

Rolling on!

svnt442

It seems a straight forward repair, but I would make sure to have a friend on hand. When I did mine one of the bolts that is supposed to be captured spun and I needed a second set of hands to get the nut off so I could remove the booster from the car.
Just an FYI.

Fun71

I had the same thing happen with one of the bolts holding my booster on. They are spot welded to keep them in place and one weld snapped when I was turning the nut on the engine side.

alexrains

Back again...

The booster works fine, but started to "squeak" if the brake pedal is depressed at about 60-80% of the total path.

Stepping hard on the brake, makes the squeak disappear, as also slight pressure on the pedal.

We cannot exactly locate the source of the sound, so has somebody experienced that with a new booster?

Thank you, Alex.

Greg Rogers

My booster on my 71 Cutlass convertible squeaked. It worked fine. I finally sprayed wd40 way up where the rod goes in. The noise went away. Then I bought 70 Vista Cruiser and it needed a booster. So I bought a new original look booster for the convertible and put the original booster off the conv. on the Vista. Now the noise has came back on the Vista! Oh well I may try to spray it again. It seems to work ok, just sounds funny...

oldcutlass

I closed your other duplicate thread and moved posts back to the original. No need to start a new thread with a redirect to the original.

Is it a squeak or a vacuum leak? For a squeak lube all the pivot points. For a vacuum leak remove and block the vacuum line to test.

alexrains

The sound only is heard, when being in drive and stepping onto the brake just to keep it stopped. Applying more brake pressure (then necessary), makes the sound go away.

That IS the annoying thing, as the cars idles in front of a traffic signal and squeaks...

Vacuum replaced with booster swap and lubing did not change a thing.

Now winter arrived and will investigate more, whenever I am fed up with rebuilding the Javelin.

oldcutlass

Is the brake lever rod in the proper mounting position and going straight in to the vacuum booster?