57/58/59 brakes - Achilles heel

["Hugh & Therese" <hugtrees@xxxxxxxx>]

Paul wrote, in response to Bill,:


> I think the brake booster on the '59 Imperial is rather easy to remove.
>
> Paul
>
Bill wrote:

 Your idea of bringing it to a local brake shop, and
> > then sending the unit out to Karps sounds very promising.


I surmise that what is easy for some is not for others.  We have different
strengths and weaknesses.  I agree with Paul as far as this - removing the
booster is indeed quite easy.  Taking the booster apart, having acquired a
new exterior, and putting it back together is also not rocket science.
However . . . this is really where the problem(s) begin.

I went to the web site and checked out the 1960s.  (Lovely cars, by the
way.)  I notice they have a better type of brake booster on them, hopefully
one that will allow more reasonable access to the master cylinder.  The
problem with the 57/58/59 era is that accessing the master cylinder with a
power bleeder is nigh on impossible.  For routine maintenance, this is just
a nettlesome quirk.  However it really becomes a nightmare when it comes to
bleeding the system when the master cylinder is being reinstalled.  Someone,
somewhere, out there has a power bleeder that was designed to fit the round,
single pot, master cylinder that is situated bang right up close beneath the
overhanging bellows unit.  Unfortunately no one seems to know who this
fortunate individual is.

I have taken my car to brake shops that turned out to be unable to even
remove the hubs on the rear wheels, because they lacked the requisite
puller.  I have had another which did the whole job.  Almost.  They could
not bleed the brakes.  I had to get a wrecker to get my 'almost' fixed car
back to the museum.  With air in the brake lines it was too unsafe to drive.
I was a little beyond disgruntled about this, you may be sure.  I have had
more problems with the brakes on my 1958 than everything else put together.
They have been a recurring problem.  Rebuilt master cylinders have failed so
frequently that I was obligated to upgrade to a more modern, twin pot style,
if only because I no longer believe the single pot style can ever be said to
be safe.  My car was in an accident at 5 MPH when the brakes failed again.
Regrettably, I ran into the back of a Dodge pick up.  The difference in
bumper height held to huge damage to the Imperial even though the pick up
was virtually unscratched.

With the new master cylinder, from a Dodge of the mid 1960s that still had
all around drums, I was able to, at last, be able to power bleed my brakes,
though it took a certain amount of ingenuity and determination to make it
work.

My point is that opinions with regard to how easy working on these brakes
may or may not be don't add up to a hill of beans.  With the 57/58/59
Imperial, you are dealing with a designed in Achilles heel and you just have
to do the best you can with what you have.  Good luck finding a shop that
will try to do it.  Even more good luck in finding one that can actually do
the job.  I would find it impossible to criticize anyone who puts on a newer
type of booster and a better master cylinder.  I have not replaced my
original style of booster out of a sheer pig headed desire to keep my car as
original as possible.

There is an odd element that I cannot help but remark on here.  If you try
my truck inner tube over the broken booster temporary repair, nothing has to
be removed so you get working brakes for basically nothing, except the
effort of installing the tube over the bellows unit.  Under Bill's
circumstances it is definitely the route I would take until a shop that will
and can do the job is found.  The shop will need the right equipment, and
that is not going to be easy to find.  If Karpps has gone to the trouble of
recreating the rubber for the bellows unit and also does the installation,
they would be the best people to tackle the job.  A phone call to them will
answer that question.  Being as far away from them as Texas, taking my car
to them was not an option.

Hugh