I have my 1940 Ford pickup on an 86 Ranger chassis. I'm finally to the point where I can drive the truck a little (still not running right) and I'm thinking about upgrading to power brakes. I have used the entire braking system from the Ranger in this build. Does anyone know what's involved in upgrading? Right now, there's a standard Ranger master cylinder hung on the firewall and attached to a Ranger pedal hanger assembly on the other side of the firewall, so I have all Ford parts to interface with. Also, what is the diameter of the booster and how deep is it from front to back and will the upgrade require a different master cylinder? Thanks

 

I don't rightly know the answer to your question, so if you don't get an answer here, you might consider posing the question on the FTE brake forum. Brakes, Steering, Suspension, Tires, & Wheels - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums

 

1great40, mostly it's having some of the right parts to start with so the booster mounting will be correct. The booster diameter is about 8.5" and it's about 6.5" front to back. At least that's what the booster is on my 91 Ranger. The large hole in the firewall for the master cylinder may need to be enlarged if the booster center is larger where it extends a little from the back side where the brake push rod runs from the pedal to the booster. Also, the booster mounting holes may be a different pattern than those for the master cylinder. Some may have bolts going through the pedal bracket on the inside. And yes there may be a different master cylinder for the power brakes as opposed to manual brakes. You should be able to find that out at the auto parts store. It may save a bit of time and searching if you got a master cylinder and booster with the brake pedal push rod from a wrecking yard so you could make the initial measurements and mounting that you need. You could get one from an 86,87,or 88 Ranger. 1988 was the last year of the first generation of Rangers, but I'm not sure if any small changes were made for the 89 Rangers with their brake boosters or not. The auto parts store could also tell you if they are the same part or not. Another thing with having a part from the wrecking yard is that you would have the "core" units for the new parts you get from the parts store. For the booster to work you'll need to run a vacuum hose from the manifold to the booster. That's pretty much all that's needed to make the conversion.

 

Thanks for your input. I ended up with a streetrod set up. It consists of a Corvette 1" master, a 7" dual diaphragm booster and a GM combination metering/proportioning/residual pressure valve.
I had to create a new pivot point for the booster on my pedal arm and make a couple of adapter brackets to attach the booster to the Ranger swing pedal bracket. It works well!