Installing VH44 Brake Booster 1957 Ford Thunderbird.
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- Опубліковано 14 жов 2024
- The factory booster on mine needed an expensive rebuild due to mismatched parts someone put in it years ago. Instead, I bought a new VH44 aftermarket booster of the same style. I had some hicups installing it due to the kind of flares it used, bubble instead of inverted double flares. I couldn't get bubble to work, I think the tubing nuts they supplied had the threads going too far down to allow sufficient "tightening" with the bubble. So I used double flare and ground the threads at the bottom of the nuts down a little with the idea they would be able to thread farther down into the bore. If I did it again, I'd buy some long tube nuts with more of a "snout" at the end. With better nuts perhaps the bubble flare would work. Overall, not too bad.
I got mine installed in spite of the bubble flare/inverted flare issue. I did track down some adapter fittings which look like they should work. I would try them if I was to do another install of one of these. They go into the input and output "holes" and have a male bubble end (to seal at the bottom of the hole) and a female inverted flare end (to connect the brake line double flare ends to). Edelmann part# 272330. If you go that route post a message here saying if it worked.
You'll want to shop around for price. The booster was very reasonably priced two months ago, they seem to be in short supply right now and prices are higher.
My setup is original drums. If you have disks I put some info in the video about what might be done differently. But honestly, this works so well with the drums I've put the idea of converting to disks out of my mind.
As far as the performance of the booster. WOW. What a difference. The pedal feel is great. The initial brake application is good, not grabby or hard and it ramps up nicely to a good solid application with more foot pressure on the pedal. If you are thinking of also putting on new brake shoes, I recommend Raybestos Element 3. I condemn Centric shoes, which a lot of the Tbird suppliers are selling, I had them on this car and they were horrible, pulled, hard to adjust, very dusty. These Raybestos combined with this booster make the car feel like it has disk brakes.
Update in Aug 2024. I found some more info on these boosters and also found some more feedback from people who had disk brakes. In these cars it seems like this booster works ok with disks even though technically you need the 9" version that can produce higher output pressure. The 9" version (VH40) would be hard to squeeze in these cars.
Nice job! Glad to see how well this worked.
Got to your video thru the CTCI referral…. Possibly the best replacement setup I have seen in the last year.
It works and fits so well and looks pretty close to OEM that it's a mystery why it's not much more popular. I get that people like OEM but still, $400 to $800 to rebuild an OEM versus $150 to $250 to put this new one on.
Nice job. Thank you for posting this.
You're welcome
It appears to have a check valve built in to the vacuum inlet, is that a known/interchangeable part if it fails? This seems to be a great solution for any hot rodding or resto!
It does look like it has one. If it fails you can get inline check valves. That is what I put on mine (it was leftover from the old setup/booster), an inline check valve on the large vacuum hose that goes between the intake and the booster. You can see it briefly in the video at 2:38, the shiny thing just to the side of the master cylinder. www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TQM4YS3/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
@@EristiCat that was the plan! I much prefer inline anyways. Cheers
I have been thinking about installing one of the VH44's on a Studebaker Champ Pickup with 4 wheel drum brakes. Any suggestions or word of caution. Thanks New subscriber
Just be sure to read thru the full description for this video so you're aware of the issues with the fittings and the adapters I found AFTER I did mine which you may want to try. Even without the fittings, which I think would make it go smoother, mine has been leak free after getting things good and tight. The kit came with enough length of the copper color hand bendable brake line tubing to make the needed connections on mine. That copper color stuff is, as far as I know, a bit softer than factory type steel tubing. I think that slightly softer tubing helped with getting the mismatched bubble/flare sealing surfaces to seal.
Thanks for this video! I might have missed it in your video, but where did you source your booster kit? Also, what bore size did you go with?
I got it on eBay. There are usually several sellers and wide variety of prices. As far as I know they are all the same bore size.
did you notice a improvement in your brakes
@@stevenharpervw yes. They feel very similar to a modern car.
@@EristiCat what side is the master cylinder ( that’s attached to the servo) . And the output does it only T off and go to the front brakes ? And the original master cylinder that’s in the fire wall that feed ( the new master cylinder and the rear brakes ?
@@stevenharpervw I am still using the original master and drum brakes and power booster just like the original system. The master feeds the booster and the booster powers both the front and rear brakes from the t-fitting on the frame rail.
Where can I buy this from?
I got it on eBay. There are usually several sellers and wide variety of prices. Sometimes it's also listed on Amazon.