Master cylinder mounting, firewall or under cab?

A little "speed secret" for filling M/cyls under the floor. Take a long phillips screwdriver or a piece of rod, stick it in the opening on top, hold the can opening up against the side of the rod and pour the brake fluid down the side of the rod. The fluid adheres to the rod and runs down to exactly where you want it to go instead of fluxuating all over the place making a mess. I use this method to fill floor jacks with their tiny fill holes. It works for oil cans if you can't find a handy funnel too.

If you mount it on the firewall always bolt the swing pedal assembly into the dashboard just like the factory did in the 50s. That's usually enough to prevent any oil canning of the firewall.

 

When I did mine there was no question that the firewall was the place, and way cheaper too. I used a master/pedal assembly from a junkyard car that was 1990's vintage and it cost a whopping $35 for all of it.
The advatage off going with a used unit is parts are available everywhere, and it's already been engineered by the factory, so nothing needs to be figured out.

 

In the late '6s when I got really started the old guys showed me how to hang a pair of jelly jars on the firewall. They said that was the right way to do it. A lot of them would be Tommy's contemporaries.

We used to run a mechanical clutch linkage and a pair of jelly jars with a balance bar. One jar would feed the rear and the other would feed the front. You adjusted your brake bias with the balance bar.

 

Whoa so a dual jelly jar acts like a dual reservoir?! I always thought the second one was for the clutch. Is it just as safe as a dual? I'll definitely do that on my '32 if so!

 

I think it depends on what part of the country you are from if it actuates the clutch. The fellas that helped me when I was a kid always used mechanical clutch linkage. They said that juice clutches we for old ladies.

One of the old guys used to use a through the floor peddle for his clutch and a hanging peddle for his brakes. I always thought it looked funny but that was the way he liked it. He even captured an Ansen setup at a swap meet once for a '34 he was building and dropped the clutch peddle out of it. I guess it was just his style. You could always tell a car that he built because of the hanging brake and through the floor clutch peddle.

yes it works like a dual resevoir. You have to use a balance bar so you can balance the system out. Works like a champ.

If you loose one set of brakes the other set will keep on working unless of course you loose both sets at once.

 

In my part of the country the 2nd M/cyl was always for the clutch. I'm sure it was done but I never saw it until I started to help a buddy with his roundy round car in the early 70s. I have seen, in the last 15 years, where someone used the Chevy truck M/cyl as a dual brake system but with a common reservoir, it's really not a dual M/cyl system. It just looked so cool with the nostalgic Chevy truck M/cyl on the firewall. I was surprised when I looked inside and didn't see the clutch pedal.

 

Please excuse my acronym ignorance. What is an O/T frame?

BTW: I like the dual Fruit Jar idea for front and rear brakes. Anyone have an idea for the bias bar setup on the swing brake?

 

O/T = Off Topic

I have dual master cylinders under the floor on both my deuces,,on the wagon it is still on the firewall where Henry installed it. HRP

 

I installed mine under floor, with a remote reservoir.

 

how 'bout ye olde ansen style swinging pedals to the '62 chevy truck clutch/brake master.

 

Glad somebody brought this back up. The original truck is for sale, so I won't be fooling with it. However, I have got to upgrade the 47 Lincoln I just got, and have been debating firewall or under floor for it. I haven't been able to find a three bolt adapter to a power booster, not sure if anybody even makes one. I did find a 3 bolt to 2 bolt, and I found a 2 bolt to 4 bolt power adapter. I don't know about bolting two adapters together to get to the proper bolt pattern, what do ya'll think? Or should I shitcan the original pedal and mounts and go with a universal under floor unit, or universal firewall mount unit? I want power to stop the big car, but want it safely mounted, too.