Today, I started a project that I had been avoiding for a couple weeks. I
noticed a while ago that the brake booster on my 78 had a vacuum leak. It
didn't affect braking at all but it was there. I could hear it after I
turned off the car, it would suck air for 30 seconds or so. Fortunately, I
had just taken the booster off my 76 T&C parts car so I sand blasted and
painted that one and got it ready to install in the 78. The 78 also
currently houses the transmission from the T&C so I knew there would be no
rejection of the donated organs...err...parts. The theory of replacing the
booster is very simple, doing it is a different matter. The simple job is
complicated by the fact that there are five bolts up under the dash that you
need to remove and a sixth that you need to remove to get at one of those
five. Basically, you just unbolt the master cylinder from the booster from
under the hood (4 nuts) and then unbolt the booster from the firewall and
the brake pedal from under the dash. (4 bolts on the booster and one on the
pedal) the top right nut under the dash made up for well over half the
difficulty of the job. I tried every assortment of tools that I could but
it wasn't moving. The space was simply too cramped to get anything into.
Finally, a 1/2" deep socket, a 3/8" drive ratchet with a swivel between did
the trick. I had to also take off the brake light switch to access this
nut. Other than that, the project went smoothly and I now have awesome
brakes. They seem more responsive than before and I can now hear that
"woosh" sound when I apply the brakes. I hear no leaks under the hood. I
can now set to finding out why the car doesn't idle like it should.
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