I have a 87 Ramcharger, I want to convert to manual brakes, my question is on the trucks is there a firewall reinforcent plate when you have manual brakes like on a B body car ? or does the master cyclinder bolt stright to the firewall?

Thanks

Not sure but I believe theres a plate for the master to bolt on to the firewall in place of the booster. What do you have against power beraks? Power brakse replaced manual brakes for a reason...

I'm going to put in a Big Block and need the room plus I'm changing the cam so vacuum will also be a issue.

With an appropriately sized master cylinder, manual brakes can be nice, provide much better "feel" of brake modulation, and offers a cleaner engine bay without a booster and hoses for vacuum

that little plate is just to dress it up--it isnt substantial enough to give more strength---and hey manual brakes give you better pedal feel--i run 4 wheel discs with manual pedal on all my cars/trucks---in panic situations you are less likely to lock them up---power guys tend to lock up the brakes which means you are ever closer to loosing control--locked up brakes take more distance to stop the car--locked up brakes mean the car follows the line of momentum meaning you cant effectively steer the car away from the hazard....bob

Scratchy needs to chime in here. He changed his 88 from power to manual..

i have manual brakes, if you take off your brake booster there is a large round hole and 4 mouning holes for the booster, you need an adapter plate to use the 2 bolt master cylinder. scratchin made mine but its very simple to do yourself

remove the vac booster and use the foam gasket as a template to make a metal plate drilled for a 2 bolt alum MC

the manaul brake rod is 7" long and you can get the adjustable brake rod.

all I did was order up a MC for a 79 ramcharger,used the stock prop valve,with 11x2.5 rear drums,large wheel cyls.

spoon up the rears and it has a nice firm pedle and stops great with the 440 up front on my 88 truck.



here is a stock rod and plate from a manual brake truck,this is the set up I gave to John.

my 88 440 truck manual brake MC set up.

Thanks