I went out for a roll today in the daily and the fucking power brake pedal went to the floor. I have never touched this style of power brakes before. Whole new can of worms for me. Anyone know the proper procedure in removing/rebuilding one of these units? The "in floor" design. got my tools ready for this one... help NAILHEAD
I'm not sure if they still had it in '59, but my '58 Olds has a treadle vac booster which is notorious for dying in inopportune times. There was a thread a month or two ago, search on 'treadle vac'. You prolly wanna convert it to a dual master for safety reasons...
Update how? You mean just rebuild em? I'd imagine that's fairly normal. Do you have a factory service manual? I got an original for my Olds for like $40 and it's VERY thorough - apparently when they didn't have to dedicate 200 pages to FI codes, they had more time to spell every last thing out. Kanter (www.kanter.com) sells the complete rebuild kits which includes shoes, hoses, hardware, and wheel/master cylinder rebuild kits for uder $200, they also sell service manuals or you might find one cheaper on that auction site. You seriously might wanna consider upgrading to a dual channel master, otherwise if you lose any hose you have no brakes and a '59 Buick is a lot of car to slow with a parking brake. There's prolly no kit, but it's pretty straightdorward...
Go to the nailhead group on yahoo, v8buick.com ,or contact suedesled he's a bit of a 59 Buick Guru he seems to be able to answer most ? regarding 59's. Post what you find out I'm looking to upgrade mine too my new one has the power brakes with the vacume can crazy old technology my sedan had manual brakes and they were suprisingly efficent.
I had mine rebuilt. Got a kit from Canter, it seems that there were a few different rebuild kits for 59 and they hooked me up with the right kit. Once it was torn apart, the shaft had some rust pits so I had to track down a used replacement from a local old-timer. In hindsight, it was really stupid of me to go to this trouble and expense to rebuild the shit system that was in the car. 2 month later a rear brake like broke and the pedal went to the floor. Not fun in that big boat. As mentioned earlier, I'd recommend converting to a dual resevoir system. It might be slightly more of a pain in the ass initially but it could save your life and will at least give you peace of mind in the long run. I think Fraz posted a conversion tech piece for Buicks before (might have been two years ago now), using a junkyard dual res master from a later model truck. It didn't appear to be a bad conversion, just a few holes in the firewall basically. That's what I'd do in hindsight.
Well the treadle vac is a unique design for power brakes. I have some I have rebuilt and some I have replaced. I recommend replacing it if you can. This will require a pedal assembly from a 59-60 GM car with manual brakes and then you can mount the more popular master/booster assembly from the 70-90's model GM cars. If you want to repair your unit; first check for vacuum leaks ; if it has none then it is most likely the primary seal. Remove it from the floor by pulling all the sheetmetal screws in the mounting plate and bringing it throught the floor into the interior of the car. When this is done pull the 4 bolts holding the unit to the mounting plate. Then you will be able to remove the snap ring and access the diaghram. When you remove the diaghram then you will see the seal. Replace it and rebuilr the master cylinder like any other. This should get you back on the road. Any questions just call the shop. 503-697-0500. Later, marty
I have a 60 buick, which is identical in brake assemblies. You do need the pedals from a manual-brake car. The 59 I had was equipped with PB's stock, has a completely different setup pedal wise. I used a booster and MC off a 69 Chevy Caprice that had drums all 4 corners. Had to do some fitting as two bolts will go through the holes and 2 wont. Holes I speak of are up on the firewall, where most likely there is a blockoff plate right now. The booster and MC were like $100. Ran new lines where neccessary, and when I was done it would lock all 4 wheels up pretty easy. Ease off the pedal pressure a tad, she'll whoa in a big hurry, all things considered. Chuck yer butt right into and thru the windshield. S'funny this subject came up, right now the ol girl's in the mechanic's shop getting brakes checked, I don't have time and the same thing happened to me Monday, pedal to the floor deal.
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