Bill,
I doubt if your 59 has an emergency brake at all. You have a parking
brake. It works with a small pair of shoes that clamp onto the drive
shaft. Not a good stopping option. My booster failed, years
ago, on the freeway. I have never been so scared. I kept up
with traffic hoping like crazy no one did anything unexpected. At a
clearer point, on a slight incline, I managed to stop on the hard
shoulder. I had no cell phone but a passer by who stopped did and I called
for a wrecker.
Removing the booster unit is by no means difficult. Remove the master
cylinder first. It is held on by the same backing plate as the
booster. It really isn't that big of a deal. Or shouldn't be.
I dare say no one likes my truck tire inner tube idea, but it works, I
assure you. It's lateral thinking, that's all. What can be done to
re-establish vacuum is the question being answered. It is worth noting
that this was before Karpps had perfected their replacement part. I had
some discussions with them about the problems they were having recreating the
rubber for the bellows unit. They said they did not anticipate having one
they would be confident to sell for at least a year. It turned out to be
two. I needed a good temporary solution. At the museum, I was
laughed at for even trying it, but there was little to lose. Many cars of
this era that survive do not have an original booster simply because a repair
was not deemed possible and there was no source for a replacement. My
repair cost nothing except for the sweat of getting the inner tube section onto
the unit and over the original unit that had the hole in it. It proved to
be remarkably serviceable, to my surprise as much as anyone else's.
Hugh
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