1968 Plymouth Valiant First Gen HEMI

“……..is this the brackets used for an A-body power brake booster? A friend did that on his 66 A-body and had issues that I believe he decided was related to the pedal ratio…….”



“…..that could be when removing those brackets. i went to manual brakes on my 68 valiant, the pedal ratio was the same on servo and non servo so i hoped it's be ok. no..... the pedal was very hard with less travel and no feel...... or power. the pedal would need drilling closer to the pivot where the clevis connects. going from manual (direct on the bulkhead) to the servo type brackets will if my assumption is correct improve the brakes at the expense of a slightly 'longer' pedal travel……”





The brackets I’m using are the set Speedway sells so it is probably the same as your friends. His belief that the issue was probably pedal ratio is probably correct, but it could also have been aggravated by using an incorrect master cylinder. Most cars call for a different master cylinder for manual vs power brakes. The manual brake cars usually have a small bore/piston size.



Pedal ratio can be a pain to figure out. Depending on the manufacture and specific car, some use a different brake pedal specific to manual or power brakes (the difference being the location of the connection point the master cylinder connects to).



Years ago I did the relocation brackets and drum to front manual disc brake conversion on a customers car. I remember it was a PIA getting the combination figured out as far as pedal ratio, master cylinder and bracket ratio…..did finally end up with a nice system though. Problem is it’s been so long ago I can’t remember even which of his cars we did it on (old age and CRS).



Fortunately, on this car I’m starting with a brake system that works well as is and just relocating the master cylinder for valve cover clearance. I just glanced at the brackets when they came in and I figured I may have to change the ratio on the brackets, which shouldn’t be any more involved than modifying the existing arm from the bracket to the master cylinder (or building a new arm) to move the connection point between the pedal and the bracket pivot higher up. Sounds good on paper anyway LOL.



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