mustang hydro-boost

[ROKuberski]

The steering conversion was not very hard, but it is not 100% bolt in and go.  In the instructions they mention that you will have to shim at the front bolt to get the column centered in the original position.  Not a big deal.  You will have to cut off your existing steering column outer tube and center shaft.  Also not a big deal, but do your measuring carefully.  If you cut off too much, you are screwed.  I am using my existing column shift and there is no room to install a rag joint.  I have a coupler welded to the end of the existing column.  If you read around you will find comments about sound traveling up the shaft into the cabin of the car.  It does do that, and Borgeson will tell you that too, but if the radio or a/c is on, you won't hear it.

I have three sheaves on my harmonic balancer and water pump.  The third one, closest to the radiator was unused (my car had factory a/c, but was not on the car when I bought it) and that is the one that I used for the P/S pump.  The bracket for the P/S pump is a perfect fit.  I did have to reroute my gas line a little as it came out of the fuel pump, but not a big deal.

I am very happy with the new power steering.  I don't think I ever turned the wheels lock to lock before, too much effort required.

The hydroboost unit I used came from a full size Ford/Lincoln/Mercury car from the era of 1975 - 1979.  It was cheap from Rockauto, about $140 if I remember correctly.  There was a $20 core charge, that I had to pay because I did not have one to exchange.  I looked in most of the salvage yards in the Denver metro area and I could not find one of those cars.  I think they are all at the crusher now.  Anyway, getting the hydroboost unit was just part of what I needed.  There is a rod, spring and small round bracket that you will see back in one of these posts.  I could not find any place that would sell it to me.  So, one fine member of this forum sent me one that he did not use.  Now that I have it in hand, I could make another and if anyone takes on the project, I'll pull mine apart and make accurate measurements so you can make one too.

I just got the car on the road today, and have only put a few miles on it.  However, the brakes are working great.  In the picture in the previous post you will see that I have a brake adjusting valve for the rear brakes.  Right now, it is in the full pressure to the rear position.  I have not yet slammed on the brakes to see what locks up first. 

In order to mount the hydroboost unit I had to add a shim under the lower two bolts.  This tilts the front of the boost unit up and this is so that the push rod does not bind up.  My shim is about 3/8" thick.  The pushrod on the boost unit is the right length.  I was worried that this would put too much of a tilt on the master cylinder, but it is just fine.  By the way, I am using a two chamber master cylinder from a 1967 Full size Ford that was designed for disk/drum brakes.  That's what I have now.

I did buy the P/S hoses from Borgeson, but would not do that again.  They charged about $80 for them.  Then of course I had to make modifications so that I could connect up the hydroboost unit.  I was able to use one of the existing lines without modification, one line I modified and the line that goes between the boost unit to the P/S unit I had to have made from scratch.  I actually bought a section of 3/8" brake line and used the bender that I have to mock up the way I wanted the lines made.  For a $7 throw away that was a good investment.  They matched what I did very well and only charged me $45 to make my lines.  However, they said they were going to raise their prices in the near future.

Then there was the issue of the return line from the boost unit.  It points right at the exhaust manifold and I had to use my lathe to make a custom part.  The pictures on previous posts show what I had to make.  Once I finally decided how I was going to deal with this problem it was not hard to make.

What would I do different?  I don't think anything.  What I have is working well.  It's congested under the boost unit with all the lines, but I don't think that there is anything that you can do about that.

I need to touch up the paint after all the work I did in there, but I think it looks okay.  Of course I'm biased on that issue.

While I would not say it was easy to do, it was not all that bad either.  Not technically hard, but you are not going to get all this done in a day.  Any good shade tree mechanic could tackle this project and make it work.

I bought the P/S unit off of eBay.  It shipped directly from Borgeson, but was sold by another company - cost was $800 including shipping.  About $250 less than from Borgeson.  My original PS pump leaked and they sent me another one right away.

My old steering gear box was shot.  It could have been rebuilt for about $650, but for a little more, I ended up with power steering and then had a source of power for hydroboost brakes.  For me, a good deal.

Rich

[RICH MUISE]

Well done!!

[gasman826]

I watched you search for a fitting for the return line on the bottom of your inverted hydraulic brake booster without responding until now.  Congratulations on your success!  I didn't find any fitting to match those threads.  I shortened the OEM nipple to get rid of the hose barb and used a AN adapter to hard line.  There is a AN to hard line adapter that has a brass cone that slides over the hard line and is compressed much like a copper compression fitting.  This has worked for several years.  The reason I didn't say anything was due to the difference in clearance.  With headers, there is much more room to add the adapter and a 90 fitting.

[ROKuberski]

That's a really clean adapter that you are using.  I just made what I had the skill and tools to make.  I did look for a banjo that would work, but I think that return line fitting is just too small. 

Nice job.

Rich

[RICH MUISE]

What type of master cylinder are you using....the traditional style or the late model Mustang type? Got pics?

[ROKuberski]

Rich,

Sorry for the delay in response.  I've been in Canada and upstate New York, shortly to head for east Texas and Louisiana.  Retirement is hard work, but I am holding up pretty well.

I am using the same 1967 Ford Galaxie  M/C for a car with disk/drum brakes that I bought a while back.  It was a perfect fit before I installed the boost unit.  With the boost unit I needed a pushrod and spring to complete the mate up.  I could not find one ANYWHERE, but a member to this site sent me exactly what I needed.  When you buy a rebuilt boost unit, instructions say to reuse the old pushrod/spring.  Well, I did not have one.  Prior to buying the rebuild boost unit I looked at the salvage yards in the Denver area and could not locate even one.  All the cars of that vintage have gone to the crusher.  I even went to a new Ford dealer and tried to buy the part.  Forget it.

Rich