61 Galaxie Brakes

SuperDave

SuperDave

Senior Member
I have a 61 Galaxie in the shop that has what appears to be factory power brakes and dual master cylinder. drum/drum. Almost no braking at all. Bolts and nuts on MC and booster appear to never been removed. But someone has "worked" on it because.
There is a metal tag hanging on the MC that says " USE DOT 5 BRAKE FLUID ONLY". Why would someone do that ? The second mystery is a manual proportioning valve in the front brake line. The front reservoir is empty! Owner has no history on the car other than brakes have been terrible since he acquired it. No surprise!:eek: Now that all the cosmetic restoration is done.. he wants the brakes fixed.. A little backwards, but..
Can anyone offer advice?
I plan to remove the brake drums and check the wheel cylinders. If someone just changed to DOT 5 without a complete flush and/or Not changing all the original seals in the MC and wheel cyl.. OH BOY!
 
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The first Ford dual master was in '67, and they never used DOT 5, and you certainly don't want proportioning in the front brakes, especially drums. Maybe a picture or two would help ID the parts.
 
Do not believe it is a stock setup. Dual master cylinders were not installed until several years later.

If the booster is good I would start by installing a mid 70s Granada drum/drum maser along with the stock metering block for the car the master comes from. Get rid of the proportioning valve, the metering block from the Granada will do the job.

After that a complete check of the wheel cylinders, replace all the flex lines and then flush and flush and flush.
 
I hope the pictures are posted. if they are it's magic. because I haven't a clue what I am doing..
 

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It's a no brainer that the proportioning valve has to go. Last time I used one of those was in my circle track phase. LOL. If I can identify the master cylinder. I will rebuild it as well as the (easy)wheel cylinders . Flush well with alcohol and use DOT 3 or4.and give it a try.. Booster seems to be OK.
I couldn't find a drum/drum MC for a Granada. They all seemed to have front disc. According to the Advance Auto Parts site anyway.
 
There are drum/drum master cylinders for the later 60's cars. I bought one for a '69 Ranchero. The power brake cars were disc/drum while the manual brakes were drum/drum.
 
Tye first thing is to figure out what master you have. if it a drum/disc it probably does not have a residual pressure valve inside so you will have to install an inline one. Since it is a drum/drum system, one 10 lb unit in the common front/rear line should be used (or one in the line for the front brakes and one in the line for the rear brakes)..

My understanding is that a drum/drum master should have an integral residual pressure valve.

You should not need a proportioning valve in a drum/drum system.

Quite obviously, the brake system has been modified. When this was done, they may have converted the fluid to Dot 5, hence the warning tag.
 
Paul is correct, I think
"Quite obviously, the brake system has been modified. When this was done, they may have converted the fluid to Dot 5, hence the warning tag."
I would continue to use the Dot 5.
Jim
 
Here are pictures of the parts I removed. These were a "Bolt on", so little doubt they are off a later model ford. The booster is junk, the check valve to vacuum line is shot. The fitting on the booster has a small line for the transmission modulator and it broke when I removed the vacuum hose. the master cylinder forward piston was stuck big time. MC bore is 1". The casting of the MC has "MADE IN USA" and I think(?)the number 28863. If I could identify what they came from, all I would need to do is buy replacements.
 

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The master cylinder(1 inch bore) has been identified as Mustang (67?) Booster is the Midland brand that should fit 67-68 Mustang. The system has been cleaned with alcohol. All new flex lines and brake cups. Booster valve replaced. All functional! New MC used although the old one looked good. Now I have SUPER power brakes.. Way too sensitive. Locks wheels up at very little peddle input. I am told that the booster acts too quickly. I tried it with booster disconnected and the brakes are very hard and nearly Impossible to get brake lockup. So the problem is at the booster.. I think... How do I lower the booster action?
Oh and I tried loosening the brake adjustment and that helped the sensitivity a small amount..
Just for kicks and grins, I swapped the master cylinder connections front to rear with no change. Which is "correct" front reservoir to front brakes?
 
I finally determined hat the booster was a Midland, not Mustang. probably a larger ford. I took it apart and found the valve in the center, that regulated the vacuum was dirty. For a lack of proper nomenclature I called it a reed plate. cleaned it with brake clean,a touch of silicon spray and put it back together. Brakes work just fine now!
 
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