by sandyvan Mon May 06, 2013 5:35 pmI say easy because if I can do it with my limited auto repair experience, anyone can do it. I will say right off though that a friend of mine who knows his way around cars came by yesterday to help me bleed the lines and he also adjusted the rear brakes. I wouldn't have been able to complete that part on my own. It's a two man job and one of them needs to know what they are doing. But I removed all the original parts and installed all the new stuff. On my test run yesterday when I was feeling good after several hard stops, I tested a no hands on the wheel downhill stop and there was no wander at all, straight as an arrow. So I was pretty happy about that.
- The biggest issue I had was getting parts but that was due to the lame personnel at the Oceanside Napa store. They would mis-place the re-orders (as the first shipment was half wrong) or send the wrong items.
- The next issue for anyone doing this to look out for was that my line system was a bit different than Donivan's and required extra adapter fittings. Mine had 1/4" line running between the passenger front "T" and the rear brake hose. As far as I could tell it was all original. So that required some adapters as I already had all the 3/16" lines from the Napa parts list. And the rear brake hose listed for my van also needed to receive a 1/4" line.
- I also replaced all three rubber hoses. Those aren't on Donivan's list of parts but they are pretty common, I found them available everywhere and got mine from the O'Reilly's by my house.
- I picked up a cheapo tube bending tool from Harbor Freight as there is one key bend in one of the short lines coming off the MC, and I also used it for the tight U turns on the front lines. The tool was easy to figure out and actually kind of fun. I think I'll tackle a new fuel pump to carb line next.
- Used an angel grinder and small cutting wheel to cut the MC bracket.
- I have a factory sway bar so I used Don's tip and got a 2"x 18" trailer receiver tube from Harbor Freight to make the sway bar spacers. Used a few cutting wheels to get through that sucker.
I didn't post any pictures because there are plenty on the other threads and my set up looks just like those. https://vintage-vans.forumotion.com/t30738-1st-gen-duel-brake-cylinder-conversion-needed?highlight=dual+master+cylinder
- The biggest issue I had was getting parts but that was due to the lame personnel at the Oceanside Napa store. They would mis-place the re-orders (as the first shipment was half wrong) or send the wrong items.
- The next issue for anyone doing this to look out for was that my line system was a bit different than Donivan's and required extra adapter fittings. Mine had 1/4" line running between the passenger front "T" and the rear brake hose. As far as I could tell it was all original. So that required some adapters as I already had all the 3/16" lines from the Napa parts list. And the rear brake hose listed for my van also needed to receive a 1/4" line.
- I also replaced all three rubber hoses. Those aren't on Donivan's list of parts but they are pretty common, I found them available everywhere and got mine from the O'Reilly's by my house.
- I picked up a cheapo tube bending tool from Harbor Freight as there is one key bend in one of the short lines coming off the MC, and I also used it for the tight U turns on the front lines. The tool was easy to figure out and actually kind of fun. I think I'll tackle a new fuel pump to carb line next.
- Used an angel grinder and small cutting wheel to cut the MC bracket.
- I have a factory sway bar so I used Don's tip and got a 2"x 18" trailer receiver tube from Harbor Freight to make the sway bar spacers. Used a few cutting wheels to get through that sucker.
I didn't post any pictures because there are plenty on the other threads and my set up looks just like those. https://vintage-vans.forumotion.com/t30738-1st-gen-duel-brake-cylinder-conversion-needed?highlight=dual+master+cylinder
