1957 buick special power brake booster

[robertg18]

Hi All,

I am looking to buy a 1957 buick special original power brake booster unit for my buick that does not have a power brake booster and is very hard to stop without it.

There is a 1955 - 57 Pontiac power booster for sale and indications appear to be that it is compatable but I don't see where the brake light switch thread is, would anybody know if they are the same or know if there is one for sale anywhere, reconditioned or not. 

[Bhigdog]

Are you sure you have the proper brake shoe linings. There's been numerous threads here about improper linings and difficulty stopping. On my 57 Buick I went through 3 sets of shoes before I found a set that worked well. I had to send the shoes to a brake specialist. Modern linings just don't work well.

BTW,  also post this in the Buick forum section......................Bob

Edited March 20, 2018 by Bhigdog (see edit history)

[lump]

When I was a kid working in a Goodyear store, we did a LOT of drum brake jobs. We always ground the linings to a specific radius to exactly match the drums (putting LOTS of asbestos dust in the air). Whenever we took in a customer's car with drum brakes who was complaining that it was hard to stop, the first thing we did was take off the drums and look closely at the linings' surfaces. OFTEN it was the case that only a very small percentage of the lining was actually making contact with the drum surface, and often the brake drums were out-of-round, or filled with hot spots. So we turned the brake drums too. Usually, after grinding the shoes and turning the drums, we could make a world of difference for the customer. 

 

Having power brakes vs standard brakes doesn't solve the problem, if only a small percentage of the surfaces are making good contact. 

 

This is my opinion, based on brake jobs I did about a thousand years ago...

[95Cardinal]

The above replies are the most likely cause of your brake issues.

 

You will also have very high pedal efforts if someone installed the wrong combination of pedal mechanism & master cylinder.

If a previous owner or mechanic removed a power booster & master cylinder unit and replaced them with a standard cylinder but did not change the pedal mechanism, the pedal efforts will be very high.

 

The mechanical advantage of the power brake pedal mechanism is only about 1.5:1 but the standard brake pedal linkage provides a mechanical advantage of approximately 6:1.

 

If you check all of this and still need a power booster and master cylinder assembly, send me a PM.

I have a unit from a 57 Pontiac that I would sell. It needs to be rebuilt before use.

[Bloo]

3 hours ago, lump said:

When I was a kid working in a Goodyear store, we did a LOT of drum brake jobs. We always ground the linings to a specific radius to exactly match the drums (putting LOTS of asbestos dust in the air). Whenever we took in a customer's car with drum brakes who was complaining that it was hard to stop, the first thing we did was take off the drums and look closely at the linings' surfaces. OFTEN it was the case that only a very small percentage of the lining was actually making contact with the drum surface, and often the brake drums were out-of-round, or filled with hot spots. So we turned the brake drums too. Usually, after grinding the shoes and turning the drums, we could make a world of difference for the customer. 

 

Having power brakes vs standard brakes doesn't solve the problem, if only a small percentage of the surfaces are making good contact. 

 

This is my opinion, based on brake jobs I did about a thousand years ago...

 

This is the right way to do it. It usually wasn't done in later years. The shoes had to break in until they made contact. It might take a long time.

 

Doing this right also solves most "pulling to one side" problems that aren't the suspension (but most of those are caused by the suspension).

 

I think you can still get it done, but would probably have to send the parts out in the mail.

[old car fan]

Our 57 stops fine with new brakes non power,now changing the master cylinder,I made up new cusswords.

Edited March 21, 2018 by old car fan (see edit history)