Hey Guys, does anybody have any experience with Hydro-boost brakes. I believe that my new engine is only going to produce 6-8 inches of vacuum which will not work with my Baer Track/Touring system. I am wanting to know the benefits and drawbacks of these systems.

Regards,

Steve Haraway
1971 SS396

Steve,
Username "Gokou" has the setup from www.hydroboost.com (http://www.hydroboost.com) on his '69 with Baer brakes. According to users of the system the kit from hydroboost.com needs a warning sticker that reads, "Warning, windshield is closer than it appears"

If you are a DIY kind of guys like me (read: junkyardaholic) you can do this swap from sourcing parts from over the counter. If you want more info that way, surf on over to Jeep/Bronco/RockCrawler forums for more specifics.

graemlins/beers.gif

Joe

I have a Level III Hydroboost I purchased from Paul at Hydratech Braking Systems -- www.hydroboost.com (http://www.hydroboost.com)

You can scavenge older units from junkyards but the early ones were prone to leaking and vague pedal feeling. The new ones have been redesigned and provide a far better level of pedal feeling/feedback and are much less prone to leaking. They are a lot more expensive than a vacuum booster, but there's a lot more work involved. It's pretty cheap to stamp two pieces of steel and stick a rubber diaphragm and a spring between them, but it costs a lot more to precision machine a casting for a hydraulic unit.

Anyways, my impressions: I absolutely LOVE the thing. I tried vacuum assist (with a reservoir), but with my cam not making much vacuum the amount of assist was always changing, which was very annoying. Idling around in traffic I'd get about 2 stops before the vacuum level in the tank dropped low, then I had a hard time stopping it-- put it in neutral and rev for a second to get the vacuum back up. Very annoying. I then tried manual brakes with my Baers, too stiff. Could stop the car OK normally but couldn't stop it fast. I put the Hydroboost on about 3 weeks ago and it's an amazing unit. The pedal feel is extremely smooth, and best of all it ALWAYS feels the same no matter what the engine load is. The unit provides a TON of assist when you want it. I'm talking lock up all four tires at 100+ mph levels of assist if you feel like pushing down on the pedal firmly enough. Even though it is capable of stopping the car in a BIG hurry, it is very easy to modulate the pedal and slow down very gently if you want to. The pedal feel/feedback is far better than a vacuum booster in my opinion. It's also quite a bit smaller than a vacuum booster which leaves a lot more room to work on the driver's side back of the engine for changing plugs and the like.

The other nice thing about them is that they can make stock brakes feel like high dollar aftermarket brakes simply because it can generate so much pressure and clamp load at the calipers. On the other hand you need to make sure your lines and hoses are in tip-top shape because of the pressures the unit can generate. If you have a weak hose, a hydroboost may burst it on a hard stop!

I highly recommend one. graemlins/thumbsup.gif

If you're interested, I would give Paul a call. I believe he has rebuilt units starting around $325 or so minus the lines, and that includes his custom-stamped firewall adapter that bolts up to the stock bolts sticking through the firewall from the underdash pedal bracket on our cars. I had Paul set me up with Aeroquip braided teflon TFE lines/fittings and assembled them myself. You could save money here and use the Aeroquip AQP hose/fittings, which is a wire braid reinforced, polyesther jacketed rubber hose.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask, I'll be more than happy to answer them!

Troy

I have been thinking about hydro boost for my truck 12" of vacume at idle gives gives me greif at low speeds (I can still lock the 33x12.5's but its pretty hard)

You can pick up a rebuilt hydroboost unit for about $180 (late 70's gmc 1 ton truck) but I think its better to pick up the kit. iirc his kits use a later model booster

I have a Hydroboost installed on my CJ7 and my '69 El Camino. The EC is still in the paint shop, but the Jeep has brakes that I haven't used, yet. I could not be happier. I got mine from Vanco brakes in Los Angeles. Take a
look.
http://www.dennymac.com/mod.php?mod=userpage&menu=1008&page_id=29
Best of luck to you. Dennis

There is more than one way to skin a cat (http://www.geocities.com/casanoc) graemlins/thumbsup.gif
Scroll down to the bottom of the page. Carl posts over on Team Camaro (http://www.camaros.net) and I'm sure he would be entertained by your questions.

Joe