Power Steering Kit. Complete tech article show you how!

Classic Performance Products 378 E Orangethorpe Ave., Placentia CA 92870

Classic Performance Products

Firewall Mount Power Brake Booster Kit for 1953-56 F-100s

By Jeremy Cook
You know the old story about the painter whose truck has primer spots all over it or the mechanic who has smoke pouring out his ride's exhaust? We drew a similar comparison when we were looking over the Classic Performance Products project '56 Effie. You see, brake-system upgrades and performance upgrades are what CPP is probably best known for, yet as far as we knew, no decision had been made as to what brake booster and master cylinder to run or where to locate it. Evidently, Jim still has a trick or two up his sleeve. It seems the crew at CPP had been busy working on some of their already-popular products
and kits to make them available in polished stainless or chrome.
No sooner was the process complete and we were installing one on the '56. The complete Firewall-Mount Disc/Disc Power-Brake Booster is made specifically for '53-56 F-100s (PN 5356FBB-4). The kit was designed to be as compact as possible and provide enough clearance for any valve cover combination. Once installed, the firewall, dash, and steering column become triangulated-making the entire assembly extremely rigid. The kit includes the mounting bracket, pedal assembly with billet pad, a polished stainless 8-inch dual power booster, a smoothed and chromed master cylinder, a chrome proportioning valve, and all the necessary hardware (all of which has been either polished or chromed). Of course, if you're not looking for all the bells and whistles, CPP can provide the kit in raw form or the mounting bracket or any other component by itself. You can also upgrade to the chrome or polished stuff one component at a time. At CPP your braking options are limitless. Follow along as Alan,and Jim install the new Power-Brake Booster assembly in mere minutes and even run the new brake lines-completing the mechanical portion of CPP's project Effie buildup.

Here is the complete Firewall-Mount Disc/Disc Power-Brake Booster in all its shiny glory. The smoothed and chromed master cylinder comes mounted to the polished stainless-steel 8-inch dual power booster. The pedal assembly comes attached to the mounting bracket.

Another option with this show ready setup is this polished billet master cylinder cover. It's a simple design, so it'll match whatever else you already have in your engine compartment.

As per the detailed instructions, Alan measured and marked his center point on the firewall for drilling. This is where the pedal push rod will pass through.

Alan also marked out the four booster mounting holes at this time using the leveling spacer as a guide.

Since the hole is directly over one of the ribs in the firewall, extra care was taken to make an even cut. Once the center hole was cut, the four mounting stud holes were drilled. 

Next, the mounting bracket and pedal assembly were set into place, and the holes were double checked. Notice that the steering column drop has been temporarily removed. 

We used the mounting studs from the column drop to attach the bracket to the dash. This triangulated the dash, firewall, and column making the entire area much more rigid.

Now the master cylinder/booster unit (with the leveling spacer slid over the studs) was pushed into place on the firewall.

The nuts and lock washers were then installed and tightened down. The heim joint was adjusted to get the pedal level where they wanted it. Then it was bolted to the pedal assembly. Once the brakes are adjusted and bled, the pedal level may have to be adjusted again. 

Since the brake lines congregate to this area of the framerail, Jim decided to run the lines straight down into fittings on the top edge. First the holes were drilled... 

...and then the two fittings were bolted to the frame. The lines below were bent, cut, and attached. 

Jim likes bending up lines, so we put him to work making the two lines. He wanted a simple setup where the two lines meet and run down
to the fittings.
Not bad, eh? With the lines in place, Alan ran the vacuum hose from the booster to the manifold.
On the proportioning valve, the right front line was plugged off. Instead of running this additional line, the left front line will go to a "T" fitting located inside the framerail. From the "T" fitting, the front lines then split off and go to the front left and right wheels. 
The CPP proportioning valve has a warning light switch built in. (This is not a stop light switch.) The warning light will detect any loss of pressure, such as a leaky wheel cylinder. While it is not absolutely mandatory, CPP recommends that you wire this light into your system. Any two-wire light socket can be used. One wire goes to the accessory power and the other goes to the warning light.  
You'll remember how good-looking this setup is every time you look at this trick billet pedal. You'll remember how well the CPP system works every time you have to hit it suddenly. 

It's always best to have shop and assembly manuals on hand to make sure your installation is correct and to make the project as easy as possible. We recommend factory manuals, available at Greg's Automotive

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