1956 S100 Master Cylinder Swap

[Binner86]

My wife's s-100 needs a new master cylinder. Anyone have suggestions of what I can use to upgrade? Still has stock drum brakes and new lines all around. Can't go to part store and ask and her father will rig something that won't fit right. I want it to look clean. Any suggestions?

Still has stock motor but she wants to swap and put something beefy so a mc that will handle larger brakes if possible (eventually switching to disc brakes) would be nice.

I'm not a mechanic so please excuse any ignorance in my question. Thanks!

Ryan

 

[Bruce A. Frank]

Your current master cylinder, I believe, is down between the frame rail and the engine block. It would be possible to install a dual system master cylinder (feeding the front and rear brakes separately increasing safety) in place of the existing mc.

It will be difficult to adapt or convert to a booster system for better stopping power due to space limitations in that area. I believe it can be done, I was looking at the same conversion on my '56 s120. But, it would be easier, it looks to me, to convert to a hanging peddle style. Hanging peddle kits are available for hot-rod conversions with universal adjustable mounting brackets. A search on google or ebay will turn up a couple of dozen.

An example:

1963 74 mopar dodge a body 8" dual power brake booster conversion kit | ebay

But, new brakes, a new split master cylinder, intended for drums (drum/drum) front and rear, with a 1" bore will give you excellent safety and great stopping power without the space consuming booster. If you later want to switch to discs on the front (and there are kits available for front discs on a non-4x4 front axle) you'll then have to replace the master cylinder with one designed for disc/drum. Which is, at least in my research, inexpensive at about $30-$35.