The Stovebolt Site Forums Project Journals Completed Journals 1957 Chevy 3100 - Chop Top project "Death Trap"

I really didn't want for the "Death Trap" to take away from working on my own 59' so I dove into the brake system for a start. After the truck was on the lift (man I love my lift) and I made a thorough examination, most of the lines are decent, the master cylinder is junk, the brake hoses are dry rotted and the brake light switch leaks. I pulled the master cylinder off and found more issues (surprise) the pedal assembly was just barely making contact. I proceeded to remove the pedal assembly and have a look.

On the drive home I had thought the distance between the gas and brake pedal was not nearly enough and the pedal was too high from the floor. I had thought to move the brake pedal over a bit while having the assembly out. I torn the assembly down and cut the arm bushing down by 1/2 inch and replaced the bolt and bushings for a tighter fit. This moved the pedal over but still not quite enough, it did however take a lot of the slop and movement out of the pedal arm. I mocked up a vacuum booster I had let from the 59' and made a pattern to drill the mounting holes in the firewall, I will add a backing plate to the inside as there was nothing to support the assembly before. I have a duel master cylinder, again left from the 59', that I will add once it's all bolted together. I will need to add a link to the pedal arm to give me some more room to adjust the travel, it's a little to close to the firewall.

I made a parts list for my BIL , a 4 wheel disc proportioning valve, a couple of 2 Lbs residual pressure valves (overkill maybe but it will give a firmer pedal), new brake hoses and a dozen brake line clamps. Once all the parts come in I can work on the reset of the brakes.