Well, The Colonel has been laid up for now!!

[THE COLONEL]

I enjoyed my last event this year, and it looks like it "WAS" my last event for the year, including local cruises. On the way home, and about 3 miles from the border into the U.S., the brakes went bad. I had called Jett, as I am still learning this stuff, and told him the problem. To make a long story short, Jett had suggeseted I had to take the hose off the power booster, and stick a bolt in it and tape it up, and drive home with manual brakes. I did, and got hom fine at midnight last night from Canada. Well so much for the hose having a tear, or hole in it. I got a new hose, and the have the same problem. I called my local mechanic, and told him, and.....it is the power booster.   I'm not going to go get a new booster, or fix this one because I will be switching to disc brakes in the next couple months, and it's not worth it. So it looks like The Colonel is done for the year, but in the Spring, it will have a new look and feel!!! Oh well!!

[Charger_Fan]

As much as it sucks that your booster went bad, at least it didn't break at a bad time...like when you needed a panick stop or something & had rock-hard brakes.

Anyway, it sounds like your car just wanted you to give it some attention.

[skip68]

Are you going with the manual disk or power?   

[THE COLONEL]

Are you going with the manual disk or power?   

I'll be going with power.  I think I will be getting MpBrakes.  They seem to be right in my price range, and what I'm looking for.  I had wanted to do a full front and rear conversion, but I will settle for front right now.  We'll do all the work once the engine is out this year.

[Telvis]

Sorry to hear about the bad luck. My son really liked the Colonel when we saw it at Carlisle. Hopefully it will come back better than ever. We will miss the paint scheme.

P.S. My son thanks you for the picture. He has it proudly displayed in his room.

[hemi-hampton]

Curious, did you ever end up driving through Detroit? If so did you stop anywhere to enjoy the sites? LEON.

[skip68]

I missed that one.    Is the COLONEL getting a new look? ? ? 

[Corellian Corvette]

PM me before you buy anything. I bought the MP brakes kit for my 68 and I've since learned a lot. The kit for the actual disc brake installation is fine and fits great, but their booster situation sucks.

I would spend the next several months tracking down a factory 68/69 Hemi Style Disc Brake booster if you want something that even resembles a factory install.

[THE COLONEL]

Hopefully it will come back better than ever. We will miss the paint scheme.

I missed that one.    Is the COLONEL getting a new look? ? ? 

No new paint scheme, but he is getting new look with a big block.  Until I figure out what I want to do with it, it will stay as is.  At least for the next couple years maybe.

[THE COLONEL]

PM me before you buy anything. I bought the MP brakes kit for my 68 and I've since learned a lot. The kit for the actual disc brake installation is fine and fits great, but their booster situation sucks.

I would spend the next several months tracking down a factory 68/69 Hemi Style Disc Brake booster if you want something that even resembles a factory install.

Was it that bad?  What is wrong with their booster?

[NYCMille]

Dude... hydroboost... one of the best alternatives available.

[THE COLONEL]

Dude... hydroboost... one of the best alternatives available.

Is there a link to that?  I've never heard of that.

[Corellian Corvette]

PM me before you buy anything. I bought the MP brakes kit for my 68 and I've since learned a lot. The kit for the actual disc brake installation is fine and fits great, but their booster situation sucks.

I would spend the next several months tracking down a factory 68/69 Hemi Style Disc Brake booster if you want something that even resembles a factory install.

Was it that bad?  What is wrong with their booster?

Their booster in no way resembles or connects like a factory setup. They use some bizzare bracket/lever combination that's basically crap and is going to require you to do some "modifications".

Nobody makes a stock-style dual diaphram master cylinder that's bolt-in. Supposedly someone was going to reproduce it but it hasn't been done yet and all of the rebuilders are out. You need to track down an original sytle 68/70 Disc brake master cylinder in order to do the conversion properly and truly "bolt in" - everything else from their kit is fine.

Most likely you have the single-diaphram booster for a drum brake car. These are pretty common but I've been warned against using it for Disc brake applications.

Basically it goes like this. Most of the kits will come with a booster like this. This thing sucks in terms of looking original. If you really want to use it, I'll give you a killer deal on mine I have laying around.



The booster in your car now probably looks like this - it's the single-diaphram drum booster. You can give this a try, I've been warned against it in terms of not providing enough boost, but I have no experience.



The thing you want looks like this. Beware there apparently are 2 different kinds, and if you get the one specific to the Hemi it is slightly different.