kfede1

I purchased a Hydratech hydraulic assist unit for my 71 vette. I noticed immediately that the unit sticks out farther and slightly up. When I test fitted my new (Aftermarket cowl induction) hood, I found that the new placement of the master cylinder interfered with the hood. Inspection of the original hood seemed to show that it would not fit either. What has everyone else done that have purchased this upgrade? I really do not want to butcher the hood, so I considered possibly coming up with a new flat lid for the master cylinder to try to get back 1/2 inch... Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.


[Modified by kfede1, 10:14 PM 10/21/2003]

norvalwilhelm

If we are talking about the hydraboost power brakes there is not a problem with hood clearance. Have you actually bolted the unit to the firewall? I have never heard of this problem. I have the unit and even with the master cylinder sticking further out it still is not a problem.
Install it and you will see.

kfede1

It is installed. THe drivers side hood is about 1/2 inch short of closing..

1979toy

It fits fine on my '79 but I do recall that someone with a '68 or '69 had a problem with hood clearance. I don't know what changed over the years. Maybe you could locate a wedge shaped spacer from a GM truck.

norvalwilhelm

I did not buy a kit but the plate that bolts to the firewall could be turned around, it was on a slope so the unit was either pointing more up or more down. I assume the kits come with a new aluminum plate and hopefully you installed it right.
I know that the stock plate that comes with the junk yard units can be rotated 180 degrees and the master sits almost flat, not pointing up.

1979toy

The kit does not come with an angled shim plate. There is one on some factory GM units.

norvalwilhelm

Both my factory units came with an angled plate.

flynhi

Talk to Paul at Hudroboost.

Twin_Turbo

There IS a problem with fitment on non power assist brake cars, there was a thread about that some time ago. Apparently the HB kit uses a bilelt plate without an angle to mount it to the firewall. The MC will point up. Why does it use that plate? That's beyond me, I have no clue. Stock the HB comes with an angled plate and if you rotate the h-booster it will stick out almost dead level to the front.

Here's the plate:

1979toy

My plate looks exactly like the one that Twin Turbo shows but without the raised area in the center. My plate is flat with the edges turned up. Mine is a Hydro Boost factory plate. I'm not sure if there would have been enough brake line to reach the master cylinder if it were any further forward.


[Modified by 1979toy, 7:04 AM 10/20/2003]

kfede1

I talked to Paul at Hydrotech today. He had a few different possibilities to consider. The one that interested me was to ship the unit back, where they would make a correction to the billet plate engineering. Seems that many do not have this problem, but that since some people do, they are engineering a fix for this. I am anxious to get this re-installed on my vehicle so I can get the car to the body shop for the next phase of the project... Paint!

Anyway, I will update this thread later to say how it went.


[Modified by kfede1, 2:08 AM 10/22/2003]

Jay M

I had the problem on my '68. Paul said that there have been two or three other cases where this is a problem. I had to 'Butcher' the hood to make it work. I would have prefered NOT to do that, but I was tired of not being able to drive the car and just wanted the project to get done.

The framework on the hood had to be notched out to get it to fit. But even after that there is still almost no clearance between the surface of the hood and the master cylinder.

But now that the system is broken in and I am used to it I will never go back to vacuume assist again! I doubt there is a car in the world of equal weight and tire size the can stop any better.

Hopefully Paul can develop an angeled adaptor plate so this kit will fit every Vette :) Even though it's working on myt car, I would still prefer to have a little more clearance.

~Jay