Brakes: Power or Manual?

By Chris Bicknell

Bick66

I’ve been knee deep in the front-end restoration of my ’66 Impala convertible for a few months now and I recently found myself faced with a surprisingly difficult question: power or manual brakes? Getting rid of those old stab-n-steer front drums and single-chamber master cylinder was obvious, but after making the decision to do a full front disc brake conversion I found that car enthusiasts seem to be quite opinionated on the issue of power vs. manual brakes. Some of the sources I tapped claimed the power booster only created more potential for malfunction, and in the event of a stall, the car would be more difficult to bring to a grinding halt than it would be if it just had manual in the first place. Still, others swore that power is the only way to go, for reasons ranging from pedal effort to stopping power. The only opinion everyone seemed to share was that I’d be crazy to not to agree with them. In the end I decided to go with the power brake booster. How about you–what’s your preference and why?

Check out pictures of my new stock-spinal power disc brake conversion kit after the jump.

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Posted at 8:44 am in brakes, Chevrolet, Chris Bicknell, Conversion, Impala, Restoration

Comments

phattacorider
Mar 25, 2009 at 10:39 pm

Power brakes, I personally don’t think there should even be an issue with it. I’d hope your car is equipped with an e-brake. If in the event of an emergency where your car stalls out driving at 80 or so, you should have enough room in front of you to still apply a bit of the foot brake and apply the e-brake in the same manner, except disengaging while decelerating would be a pain if you have the handle under the dash. And what are the chances of stalling out and needing brakes versus regular daily driving and needing them? There would be a greater inclination of the need to apply a split-second braking situation while you’re motor is running than if were stalled, and speaking strictly out of opinion, I think power brakes would be safer for your stops.

fortyfordsedan
Mar 25, 2009 at 6:57 pm

Even if you stall the system should have enough power to stop the car. Its not that complicated to install and is as reliable as the master cylinder you bolt it to. On a heavy car I dont think its even a question with disk brakes.

retroman
Mar 25, 2009 at 4:45 pm

I’m a fan of simplicity. I can live with manual everything, no radio, no TCS, no ABS, and no A/C. I also know first hand it’s not fun when you stall and lose power brakes and steering on a steep snow covered winding road no less. But power brakes are nice and perform better than manual so long your car doesn’t stall.

Brett Powers
Mar 25, 2009 at 1:21 pm

I’d rather have power brakes any day. Have manual brakes on the Checker and I’m not a fan.

Blackcompany
Mar 25, 2009 at 1:03 pm

As far as safety, power disk brakes in my opinion. Just cause ti wasn’t there originally doesn’t mean they wouldn’t have done it if they could have.

Chris Bicknell
Mar 25, 2009 at 12:26 pm

I purchased all my parts from Matt’s Classic Bowties out of California. I found them on eBay but made my order over the phone since I had several questions and there is a big list of options available. The customer service people were very knowledgeable and were able to answer all my questions. These kits start around $365 plus shipping for a front disc manual brake conversion. You’ll also need all new hard lines, these run about $200. I suggest buying all your parts from one supplier to ensure compatibility. I ended up buying all new hard lines, power booster, and complete front disc conversion with plates to adapt to stock spinals and the whole deal ended up costing just under $650 after shipping for everything needed to do the job. I haven’t actually installed these parts yet so I can’t speak for the ease of installation or quality at this point but I’ll make sure to write up the install once it’s complete. The whole thing looks pretty straight forward and everything included seems to be high quality.

1lowscort
Mar 25, 2009 at 12:06 pm

I would say on something that big, power would be great.

artie99
Mar 25, 2009 at 10:03 am

I was thinking about doing just this to my 67 Impala in the next few months. Roughly, how much did it set you back to get the parts?
…
Of course, now reading Jen’s post it has me second guessing.
Ideally I’d have disks all around, but I really want front disks if nothing else. I have my drums color matched to the color of the car, but I think disks look better.

Jen Dunnaway
Mar 25, 2009 at 9:10 am

Power brakes are great in theory, but speaking from personal experience, at least for my cars, I can do without ‘em. My Escort GT has manual brakes, stops on a dime, and has never had problems; my diesel Escort has (or had) power, but after a vacuum pump/vacuum switch/vacuum line/brake booster/something else went south, it’s all I can do to even slow it down a little while standing on the pedal with both feet. Of course, it doesn’t help that a diesel doesn’t create vacuum and so needs an antiquated (and obsolete and impossible to find) electric pump to supply boost to the brakes. But that’s exactly my point: it’s an unnecessary complication, superfluous plumbing, and the car would be 100 times better off if it was just a manual-brakes car in the first place.

SouthernGuy8503
Mar 25, 2009 at 9:08 am

well to put it plainly, if your engine stalls then you’ll just have manual bakes, no power brakes, so it would be the same thing, pwoer brakes gives you more braking power than manual, especially ina heavy car like a 66 inpala, so you made a good choice with power brakes, and an even better choice for doing the disc brake conversion on the front, im thinking about doing a disc brake conversion on the rear of my 98 chevy truck

I_Luv_Dusty
Mar 25, 2009 at 8:49 am

Actually, a good power break booster will have a large enough vacuum “tank” that will allow you to still have some power when the engine stalls.