wheeee!!! brake mod is here!!!!

the brake kit from dennis is finally here!!! the ups guy chucked it on my door step during dinner. i'll post some pics of the install. i'm impressed with the kit. yipeee!!! the 8-ball rides again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

way to go steve let me know how easy or hard it is may have to upgrade myself this winter take pics

good stuff please take lots of pic of install if possible i really want to do this modification to my pick up before i drop in the new 289.

this thing is a cinch to install!! i already did all the preliminary fitting since i posted a couple hours ago and i'll be buying brake fluid and lines tomorrow. i be sure to take lots of pictures. hope to have it done by saturday night.

got the thing done, fired up the van and tore up town for four hours!!! totally awsome kit took about 5 hours to do it all. will post pictures

5 hr to do it all, thats one heck of a kit. Not like 2 or 3 weeks for the Chevy Vans

sounds like a nice kit lookin forward to some pics

I have singing praises about Dennis' front disc brake kits for four years. Glad someone else here has learned how easy they are to install. Here's a pick of the kit on Vanishing Breed

here are some pictures of the install...
first i notched out the bracket for the master cylinder bolt clearance.

these are the cut outs i made for the brake lines

i used only the ten pound residual valves for the install because i have drum brakes all around. there is no proportioning valve. the resevoir is mounted up under the dash so its easy to monitor. the plastic resevoir is from pegasus auto racing. its about forty bucks. the red brake hose is brake fluid resistant hose. the brake light switch works well and is easy to locate. the biggest part of the job is fitting the bracket to the mounting bracket of the van and then notching out the ebrake bracket for the brake lines. the rest is just simple plumbing. the mod without all the painting and detailing can be done in about 5 hrs. this is the number i gave earlier and that would be just throwing in all the stuff without detailing the parts and painting everything. it feels good as a brake system, its balanced and you can stop the van fast for simple unassisted brakes. the pedal height is good and if you hammer the pedal you can lock up the rears slightly but the van stays controlled. the master cylinder is the one inch bore. all told it cost about 500 bucks to do the upgrade, but you will have different incidental costs and issues depending on your van. the beauty of it all is getting rid of the single master cylinder and having a safe new system. i'd say that Dennis is providing a high quality product that is easy to install. the price was reasonable, and he was very helpfull during the course of our business. 5

Great info Steve! all that stuff available through D&D? or just the front disc brake kit

i bought the master cylinder, brake light switch and bracket, and the mounting bracket from d&d. that all comes in the same kit from dennis. the red hose and the resevoir came from pegasus auto racing, the residual valves from wilwood, and the rest from lordco

Steve thanks for the pics. Im curious did you swap fittings on top of the master cylinder? The ones I have on the prototype are 90 degree fittings,not straight. If you notice the cutouts on the passenger side of the bracket ,you can route your lines sideways using the 90 degree fittings if you choose,notch the e-brake bracket accordingly and mount the filler reservoir inside the doghouse in front of the radiator on the drivers side. Also did Dennis supply the bendable black lines or did you buy them? The prototype I ve got has a banjo fitting on the back port and no cutting of the bracket is required. Also the front fitting(rear brake outlet port) you can eliminate a fitting by screwing the residual valve directly into the master cylinder.

Also can you post a pic of the brakelight switch

i had to supply my own fittings up top. all i could find were the straight ones but they clear ok. the bendable black lines were from Dennis. the brakelight switch pic i'll repost here because the link went weird but its up there in orange as a photo bucket link

i see what you mean about the cut outs in the bracket, i'll maybe route my lines that way if my current set up gives any trouble in the future. its working for now

Steve,I ll ask Dennis about the fittings you didnt receive. It's my understanding they are supplied with the kit. He may have just overlooked them. Dennis told me about those black lines. He says they are super easy to bend by hand without kinking them. Looks like they worked well for your application. Can you tell me why you had to notch the master cylinder mounting bracket for bolt clearance? The bracket bolts on the same as the stock master so Im not following you there unless you just did it as a convenience thing since the bolts are tough to get at.

the bracket has to be notched or the node on the master cylinder hits the metal under the mounting hole. my van is a '62 are others different?

heres the niblet that interferes with the bracket on my van. unless i put a one inch packer under the side of the master cylinder, it aint gonna fit. so you have to hog out a piece of metal there.
the master cylinder i removed was perfectly flat on the side, the new one has a one inch protuberance that a bolt goes through so it can no longer be mounted without modifiying the bracket

That does not affect the integrity of the mounting surface, does it?

no its still super tough because it has those embossed ribs in it. it is very stiff

ok here is a front view of the bolt and node of the master cylinder.

i dont see any other way of mounting this hardware that will keep it in plane with the brake pedal. unless i'm missing something or the van has been previously altered? anyway...

Steve ,I just talked to Dennis. The 90 degree fittings are not included,just the machined fitting over each port is. Apparentlly there are too many different fittings and hose/line sizes to please everyone so he didnt make it as part of the kit since it would be up to the individual which one they would need.

The bracket you cut has Dennis and me baffled. Apparently there are different brackets on the frame and it doesnt seem to be year specific either. You are the 2nd one to run into this according to Dennis. Im going to do some investigating of my own on my parts trucks and see what I can find out. One 67 it fit on,the other 67 needed the bracket cut,Dennis tried it on a 64 and I did on a 66 and it fit ok. No good answer at this point but we' ll see what we can come up with.
Just another mystery to solve I guess.

i'm very happy with the mod and i can say after a couple days of driving that the brakes are awsome. it might be of some help to mention that this van was built in oakville ontario. it may have some relevance to the problem. maybe there is a difference between the canadian and american vans? cutting the bracket was a minor detail, heck i do this everyday to four million dollar helicopters!! peace steve

Steve you may be on to something there. It could be a Canadian thing,who knows.