Hi guys....again

It's me with yet another questioooon

I should have worked this out long b4 now but.... I have a Volare clip which means 11" discs up front and an 8.8 rear from an '85 Country squire which gives me 11 drums in the back.

I used the original proportioning valve from the wagon but replacedit with a look alike from a Ford Aerostar Van.

I want eth quickest, safest, easiest brake switch option.

Opins, suggestions, advice, and answers wanted.

GW

 

Use a mechanical brake switch that works off the movement of the brake pedal. Watsons Street Works (www.watsons-streetworks.com) sells a great brake switch for about $20 that is adjustable over a wide range and another similar choice (but less fancy) at Speedway Motors (www.speedwaymotors.com) called a universal brake switch goes for $7.

That's my $0.02 for what it's worth. No extra plumbing for a pressure switch and easy to replace if it goes bad.

Leaks

 

I just did a front disc conversion on my '51, which meant a new master cylinder. The original master cylinder had a pressure-activated brake light switch with two wire leads on it, but it was so badly rusted into place, nothing would take it out.

After a few minutes research on the net, I found that it was a common ford part for years, and are available just about anywhere. I cost me about 5 bucks, and I screwed it into one of the unused brake outlets in my combo valve. Alternatively, you could add an in-line "T" to any brake line and screw it into that.

Very simple, and I didn't have to modify the original wires at all.

Good luck
Brian

 

bheibert,
What's a combo valve? I had so much headache with the brake line plumbing way back when I wanted to stay away form cutting and joining my brake lines if possible.

Am I being too paranoid?

LMK

GW

 

Like Brian, I have also had good success with pressure switches. There is less fabrication involved and the switches are inexpensive and easy to wire. They can be placed anywhere in the brake system. Since your truck came with one originally, if might be easier to replace it than fabbing up a mechanical one...

Vern

 

A combo valve is an "all in one" unit you install along with a new master cylinder. It has two inlets - for the front and rear brake lines that come out of the master cylinder. It takes the front line and splits it into two outlets, one to each front brake caliper. For the rear, there's a single line coming in and going out. The valve acts as a hold-off valve to apply more pressure to the rear barkes just slightly sooner than the front, which fixes the "nose-dive" problem common to front drum brake vehicles, and has a built in 10-lb residual pressure valve for the rear brakes, which keeps the brake shoes close to the drum. It also has a built-in switch that hooks up to a vehicle's "brake warning light". I'm honestly not sure what that is, since my truck doesn't have one, but it's not the same as a brake switch.

As far as the brake switch goes, instead of running a line from each of the valve's front brake line outlets, I have one outlet feeding both front brakes (simply split with a T fitting), and screwed the new brake light switch into the other. As soon as it feels pressure, the switch closes and activates the brake lights.

To see the combo valve and where it goes in the system, there's a good picture on the Master Power Brakes website.

http://www.mpbrakes.com/what's4.htm
I bought the basic kit from ECI hot rod brakes, which included the brackets and bearing adapters, plus the M/C mounting bracket and the combo valve. They gave me all the info to collect the rest of the stuff I needed locally - M/C, rotors, calipers, hoses, etc. Total cost worked out to less than $1,000 Canadian (which would be around $600 USD).

Everything went in dead easy. The biggest headache was getting all the 'plumbing' done. I had a crappy flaring tool, which made it tough to get good brake line seals, but eventually, it all worked out. There was no need to modify the existing pedal and pushrod assembly whatsoever, other than to adjust the pushrod for length, but that was just a simple adjusting nut - like tightening an alternator belt.

If you've got any more questions, let me know.

Brian

 

When I went to the Midland brake booster I had to go to a lever type micro-switch that operates off of the brake pedal arm. I had to really stomp the brakes to make the original pressure (replaced) switch close.

It is mounted to a tab under the floor and has survived 77k miles and 14 years.

 

HI Merc

It sounds like your installation is good. Do you have the brake pedal still going thru the floor or do you have a dash mounted swing pedal?

I used a 70's era ford toreno (spelling?) m/c and brake booster along with the swing pedal and the production electric switch it works just fine.

If you look in my gallery under steering column there is a picture of it in the brake support bracket install.

Chuck

 

The switch on the combination valve is for a warning light which tells you if you've lost pressure in either the front or rear brake system. So, when the rear brake line rusts through and bursts, the light goes on, and stays on until the fault is fixed.