Ok, here is the scenario: My buddy wants to have power disc brakes that work with a manual trans, a t5(future). Right now the car is a 75 Comet w/302 & manual disc brakes. It use to have 3spd manual floor shift car, but it was converted to a c4 auto floor shift. Currently the clutch pedal is still mounted up, now did Ford make a power disc brake manual trans cluth pedal assy for the Maverick/Comet? Or can I use the existing clutch pedal assy & do a conversion with the power booster & that funky shock tower bracket??? I know that if I use the power brake route that I have to put on the complete underdash bracket, but not sure about the clutch route?
My research and observation thus far has told me that the stock power brake setup and the stock clutch linkage setup cannot live together in the same car. One of those two items is going to have to be done creatively... You could perhaps use an aftermarket or junkyard-engineered brake booster setup with the stock clutch linkage, but my direction will probably be to use a hydraulic clutch setup of some variety. Main reason for that is clutch linkages also tend to get in the way of headers, and hydraulic gives me a lot more options on how to route everything than I would get with a cable or Z-bar. All of my insight is from obsessive theorizing and dreaming though, and I humbly defer to anybody else who's actually done this.
Why change the manual disc brakes to power? If the brakes work now why would that change? I don't understand the reasoning.......
I can't speak for anyone else, but my reason is this: Although manual brakes stop the car fine and aren't a problem to use, a power booster lets me use a master cylinder with a bigger bore, thus trading some of that reduced pedal effort for more braking power. I could not be happier with my brake system. It's taken some experimenting but I think my brakes are as superb as they can get, and for me a booster is definitely part of the formula. But then, why fix anything if it already works?
Well now after reviewing these posts I think my buddy will just leave the manual disc on the car & be done with it. I didn't know that Ford didn't make a stock pwr disc brake system with the manaul trans. Now I know why, very interesting!! Thanks for all the input on this topic guys...
My point. If we all were content to leave well enough alone, not fix what ain't broken, etc. then half of us would have great examples of completely stock cars and the other half wouldn't be here at all. To me "hot-rodding" the brakes and suspension is no different then hopping up the engine and driveline. Some people like to hotrod their stereo, some people obsess about paint, taking it way past "good enough" to the point where some might question whether it was worth the effort. It was worth it to the guy who did it though. It's all part of the same thing, all relative...
