Master Cylinder

[John R. Thomas]

You may recall my question ref. power brakes. My Galaxie has non-power brakes.
Someone stated that they upgraded to power brakes without changing the master cylinder.
WELL ! My master cylinder died in a parade on Monday. My passengers were
our mayor, his mom and daughter. I prayed a lot.
NEW QUESTION: Is it possible to install the large diameter master cylinder
with non-power brakes. (I don't have all the parts...yet.)

[58Skyliner]

From what I understand it's a matter of pressure and volume. A larger bore would push more fluid in the same stroke and result in a stiffer pedal that the power system compensates for.
I think you could get away with a larger bore with manual brakes. Not ideal, but you'd just end up with a harder pedal and less travel until you added the power booster.
I went thru this when I converted a car to disc brakes without a booster and ended up with a very hard pedal but it works fine. I too was going to add a booster but still haven't gotten around
to it.

[John R. Thomas]

A new angle: Would a 59 Ford pickup use a 1 1/8" master cylinder? I asked Rock Auto to set them side by side.

[Ron B.]

You can not mix power and non power master cylinders. You need to have all power or all non power parts. What will happen you pedal will be erratic sometimes you have pedal sometimes none. Ron b

[John R. Thomas]

NEWS I emailed a friend that restores/repairs vintage T-Birds. He was forced to use 1" master cylinders many times with no problems. I ordered one this afternoon. Who knows
when I will finally install all of the power brakes parts.