The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Master Cylinder Outside the Frame?

So yesterday, we were looking at my truck (53 Chevy 3100). Right now it is just a rolling frame with the cab on it.

Both of the two guys who were there raced cars in their younger days and in more recent years have rebuilt a number of old cars and trucks. I had asked them over to see what kind of advice they had to offer.

After we discussed that I plan to put in a 350 engine with a 700r4 transmission, the topic turned to brakes.

Gary said I needed to get the brake master cylinder out from under the truck and mount it on the firewall.

Lee had a different opinion, he said leave it under the truck, but move it to the outside of the frame.

Gary looked at his buddy Lee like he had gone totally crazy...but Lee explained.

He said "look at all that room under there" pointing to the area between the outside of the frame and the running board. "You could put a BIG booster under there."

Gary asked about the front cab mount and the brake pedal linkage.

Lee was ready for that too. "You flip the clutch lever to the outside of the frame, then drill and sleeve through the two cab mount supports for the rod. It gets it out of the way of your exhaust. Put an access door in the driver side floor to service it. If you are worried about it running right behind the front tire, fabricate a sheet metal shield for it."

He sold Gary on it.

I'm interested in what others think of that idea.

Sounds like an innovative approach, as long as you work out the pedal geometry properly. As a former round track race car builder, I can attest to the necessity to think outside the box on occasion. I remember getting all sorts of flak from my fellow racers when I turned up with a watts Linkage setup as a rear sway bar instead of the old standby Panhard rod. When we started out-handling the competition in the turns, I got a lot of questions about "that newfangled sway bar". LOL!
Jerry

Thanks for the comments, Jerry.

My concern too was the pedal geometry and how it would actually fit with the cab mount right there and then later the inner fender.

There is also the issue, in my opinion, of rocks and road junk, because it is behind the front tire. Lee's solution was "fabricate a sheet metal shield".

I plan to take a closer look at the option when the cab is off the frame, to see how it would all mount.

I did some google searching today and found there is at least one 1953 Chevy 3100 that has the Brake Booster/Master Cylinder outside the frame on the driver's side.

The owner posted many photos of the build on another forum. From the photos, the brake pedal remains in the stock location, the rolling bar it is attached to was extended through the frame to the outside, where a lever linkage was added to push the master cylinder piston. The set up is similar to the stock linkage that GM put in the truck, just on the other end of the rolling shaft, that has been extended through the frame. It appeared very well built.

I am going to see if I can find contact info for the owner and/or the shop that did the work, to get more details.