Power brakes on the cheap???

I did a search but didnt find any answers. Has anyone ever used a power brake setup under their floor on early 50's chevy from say a cavaleir or something? I have no money to spend right now and i thought about going to the local pickin pull to scavange the smallest power booster and master cylinder i can find to fit under my floor. Id have to fab up a bracket and use perportioning valves but wouldnt have but maybe 50 bucks in it. Any ideas?

 

just pulled a booster off of a '88 chevy astro van 9 inch , proportioning valve from a '82 camaro , good fit on my '37 chevy under floor. will use this to fab everything up , only 20 bucks at the local u pull it

 

you will still need to buy residual valves for front and back.

 

yup , just getting everything to fab up . don't want to buy new now ,still in the building stage. also be sure to do your home work on pedal ratio ,master cylinder bore size ...

 

All depends on what calipers you're using.
I can tell you that the commonly available kit for the '57-'60 F100 uses '71-'76 GM big-car calipers in front, and a very specific master cylinder from a mid-70's Corvette with manual brakes because it has the correct cylinder bore size (1.0").

Rockauto.com is your friend. When you click on a part it shows you every other car that shares that part, and the year span. It will also give you specifics about things about the
part, like bore size on a master cylinder.

The combination valve you use should always be specific to your application: drum/drum,/disc/drum, disc/disc. This allows you to use a dual reservoir master.

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-parts/brakes/brake-types/power-brake.htm

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-parts/brakes/brake-types/master-brake.htm

From just a common sense standpoint, I would start with a known combination. Are you using the existing drum/drum setup?
I bet that you could find conversion backing plates and buy rotors/ loaded calipers from a yard for a hundred or two more than what it costs to get the front brakes in shape.

 

For now i am using the drum/drum setup. unless i can get disk for the front really cheap.

 

According to rockauto.com, your master has a 1.0" bore, and was shared with a ton of GM cars from around '47, all the way to '62. It was used in the corvette from '53-'62.

There are a ton of cars around in salvage yards with power brakes and a 1.0" bore/dual reservoir master cylinder. but as mentioned before, if you read the tech links posted, having the correct valving is what's crucial.

You won't need a metering valve, but you'll need a proportioning valve for a dual res master. The one that comes with the master from a yard most likely is set up for disc/drum.

I would look at newer Impala/ Blazer, since you are similar in weight probably....

 

I've heard of people using old Mustang boosters...