Power brake booster mounting plate rivets?

[Robert B.]

Can anyone post a picture of original rivets as installed that are used to attach the mounting plate to the firewall on a midyear? I am looking at a '66 but I think the same plate and rivets were used from '63 to '67.

Id like to see a picture from both firewall side and cowl side if possible -

Thanks,

Bob

[Edward J.]

Re: Power brake booster mounting plate rivets?

Bob, send me a PM with your email and I will send you a pick of a plate and the rivits. Ed

[Harry S.]

Re: Power brake booster mounting plate rivets?

Bob, please remember that some P/B cars had no rivets, some had pop-rivets and some had the normal aluminum rivets when they left St. louis.

[Robert B.]

Re: Power brake booster mounting plate rivets?

Harry, that's what I'm wondering about. This car is highly optioned: A/C, PB, PS, PW, Tele Wheel, Teak Wheel, Knock off wheels, so it seems unlikely that it would have been ordered without power brakes, yet the firewall is not drilled for the rivets. The brake booster mounting plate is the correct configuration. So did the line worker just not bother to drill the rivet holes?

Are there any other clues as to whether or not the car would have left the factory without power brakes?

If I were judging the car, would I take a deduction for not having the rivets installed?

Bob

[Harry S.]

Re: Power brake booster mounting plate rivets?

Bob, I have the paperwork from my 63. P/B are listed. The plate has pop-rivets. As I recall there were three lines. Chassis, body and final assembly. If the guys on the body line missed the P/B option then the guys on the final assembly line used nothing or pop rivets.

It was the 60's whatever got the car to the next station was done.

[Robert B.]

Re: Power brake booster mounting plate rivets?

Yes, I can relate to that, and since it was built on April 15th, maybe they were concerned about their income taxes!!

Bob

[Richard M.]

Re: Power brake booster mounting plate rivets?

Are there any other clues as to whether or not the car would have left the factory without power brakes?

Bob

Bob, a potential, but not definitive, way to tell if a car left St Louis with Power Brakes....

Look at the brake pedal arm where it attaches to the rod way up inside the pedal frame assembly. If there is a coil spring and plastic bushing around the shaft to the pedal pivot arm, then it was originally standard brakes. Power brake systems did not use that coil spring therefore not installed in St Louis. If the spring is there and the booster nutplate rivets are missing, I'd say it likely never had PB. If the spring is missing, either it got removed during conversion or it may have always had PB.

Many owners add power brakes and don't care or know about the pedal arm spring. It won't cause a problem if it's still there, just redundancy as the booster has a built in spring in the chamber.

Rich
ps 1st spring is 63-66, 2nd(orange) is 67-82

[Joe R.]

Re: Power brake booster mounting plate rivets?

Is the question about Power Brakes or Power Steering?

A little confused here but that's not unusual!

JR

PS. And I'm not drinking----yet!

[Robert B.]

Re: Power brake booster mounting plate rivets?

Thanks, Richard - I had forgotten about that spring!

[Richard M.]

Re: Power brake booster mounting plate rivets?

Is the question about Power Brakes or Power Steering?

A little confused here but that's not unusual!

JR

PS. And I'm not drinking----yet!

Sorry JR, midstream I started typing steering instead of brakes. I just fixed it.

[Gene M.]

Re: Power brake booster mounting plate rivets?

The AO Smith cars typical have the larger head rivets securing the booster mount plate. Missing rivets and the presence of the spring are tell tale of an added option which is a full deduction.

[Greg H.]

Re: Power brake booster mounting plate rivets?

Hi Robert,
My 67 is a St. Louis mid March build. The rivet heads are facing the interior.

Thanks Greg

[Joe R.]

Re: Power brake booster mounting plate rivets?

Can anyone post a picture of original rivets as installed that are used to attach the mounting plate to the firewall on a midyear? I am looking at a '66 but I think the same plate and rivets were used from '63 to '67.

Id like to see a picture from both firewall side and cowl side if possible -

Thanks,

Bob

Hi Bob:

Attached are some photos from my photo collection, taken of an unknown car. However, what appears in these photos is similar to what I have seen on many cars with factory PB. One photo shows the firewall side and the other shows the cowl side. If you look closely at the cowl side photo, the formed ends of both rivets are visible.

It is difficult to buck the rivets so that the formed ends in the cowl area look correct. This can be done with an appropriate tool that resembles a large C-clamp, or by some other methods that are rather time consuming.

Joe Randolph

[Jim S.]

Re: Power brake booster mounting plate rivets?

Here are a few even clearer picture of the of the nutplate and rivets from the cowl side . (AOS 66)

I hope these look original because I installed the brake shaft spring upon reassembly , as I thought the AIM called for it . I am not going to disconnect everything and try and remove it now .


Jim