Brake Booster

[BrianG]

Hi Everyone. I’m looking for a brake booster for my 66, but am really struggling. Any suggestions for suppliers is greatly appreciated!

[jtschug]

Are you looking for an original booster like a Midland or a Bendix?

My car has a 1964 (drum brake) booster on it, and it runs out of boost at the end of travel. I want to put a correct booster in, so I bought a salvage booster off from Charlie Watkins who sells parts on the Facebook group for Flairbirds. It is a salvage part that was rusty and had a dent in it and the rubber inside was all cracked and broken. I removed the shell, cleaned up the rust, and put some black paint on it. Then I mailed it off to Midwest Remanufacturing in Chicago for a rebuild. They called me and said the plastic hub is cracked and they are looking for another one. That was a couple weeks ago. They said they would call me back when it was done to pay for it, so I'm assuming it isn't done yet.

This isn't a cheap route, the rebuild is going to cost ~$280, and it cost me almost $90 to ship it to Midwest and this was after buying it and getting it shipped to me which was almost $200. For me, having a correct booster is worth it. If this is what you want too, use the telephone and call parts vendors who salvage vehicles: Birdnest, Pat Wilson, Desert Valley. Charlie had a second booster when I bought mine, maybe he still has it. The Facebook Group can be a bit sketchy as they kick people off *after* they have scammed a lot of folks. I trusted Charlie because he's been on there selling parts for a long time. There is a classified section of this forum as well where you can go hunting.

The alternative is making some readily available booster fit in the space. People have done it and if you have a lot of time and not a lot of money and a bit of skill it could be a good choice. Check out the "modified" forum for those options.

[Alan H. Tast]

The 'go-to' person for rebuilt brake boosters is 'Booster' Dewey in Portland, Oregon - do a search here in the Forum and you should find several responses from people that have used him (including me - several times).

[travellew]

I struggled to find a authentic one that was not junk.

Eventually I followed a post on this site to install a generic booster with a modern master cylinder. Unfortunately it doesn't look original, but it works well. When it comes to brakes I just wanted them to work and be serviceable in the future. This way if something poops the bed, I know I can get a replacement.

I will see if I can find the link to the post if you are interested.

[jtschug]

I struggled to find a authentic one that was not junk.

Yes, salvage = junk. The good news is they are rebuildable. The bad news for me is I probably should have bought two junk ones to get a plastic hub that wasn't cracked. I will try to get a hold of someone at MW to see how my rebuild is coming along.

[jtschug]

Midwest has confirmed they have the part coming in to rebuild my Midland brake booster.

[travellew]

This was the link I followed. You need to do a little modification (cutting the stud on the booster).

I think this is the easiest path if you aren't stuck on original parts.

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