1967 removal of power brake booster

[Richard B.]

My 1967 was born with standard brakes (not power brakes). Somewhere along the way power brakes were added in addition to a non original master cylinder. I now have a restored original master cylinder (5455509) which i have intended to replace the incorrect master cylinder and at the same time remove the power booster.

I have been warned by 3 different individuals against removing the power booster. When i ask "why", 2 have asked, "why would you want to do that?" and the third said the standard brakes would not be adequate/safe to stop the car.

Do these challenges bear any further consideration before i move forward with the change? At last judging the car lost all originality and condition points related to having a power booster that was not there at birth.

[Stephen L.]

Re: 1967 removal of power brake booster

There are many 67's out there that stop just fine with standard brakes...including mine!!!!
What you could do is install a correct power brake setup, including lines etc.

[Rob A.]

Re: 1967 removal of power brake booster

Richard,

If you have a small block, I can tell you standard brakes are more than adequate. Properly maintained, with the correct OEM brake pads, there isn't that much pedal pressure required. I know that with the extra weight of a big block, power brakes vs. standard makes more of a difference.

[Tom S.]

Re: 1967 removal of power brake booster

I agree with the above post's. I have a 69 with standard brakes and it has no problem at all stoping. The brakes work fine..

[Gary Schisler]

Re: 1967 removal of power brake booster

I think he was stating his preference and trying to justify it withou pseudo-science. I drove my 66 without PB or PS for almost nine years and really like it. The only issue was parallel parking and even that wasn't worth mentioning. My drove my car too and never mentioned the last of PBs. As others have stated, if they are well maintained, the brakes are more than up to the task.

Gary

[William V.]

Re: 1967 removal of power brake booster

I've owned several mid year corvetts with standard brakes. On the road, and at high speed, all stopped fine including the 64 with drum brakes.

[Joe R.]

Re: 1967 removal of power brake booster

Hi Richard:

I think this is a personal preference item and not a safety item. It's the same brakes at the wheels, so the only difference is pedal effort, and the difference in pedal effort is not extreme.

My 67 small block has non-power brakes and it stops fine, but the pedal effort is definitely higher than the other two cars in my family that both have power brakes. I think I have been spoiled by driving cars with power brakes for the last 20 years, and I would like my Corvette to have similar braking characteristics.

I plan to add power brakes after I am through with having the car judged, and I have been slowly gathering the necessary original parts so that the conversion will be as "correct" as possible (can't shake the NCRS disease).

For 1967 the master cylinder was the same for both manual and power brakes, so the power brake differences are mostly limited to the addition of the booster and related parts.

You imply that the booster on your car is not correct for 1967, but fairly good reproduction boosters are available if you want to go that way. You can even get them stamped with the correct numbers, so that the only discernable difference is the rivet heads on the mounting brackets. You may have an issue with the firewall reinforcement plate, depending on how that was handled when your car was originally converted.

Anyway, if you like having power brakes you can probably keep them and still have the configuration look pretty correct. I know that technically the judges are supposed to make a full deduct if they can detect that the car did not originally have power brakes, but I think that many judges will let it go if the configuration looks correct.