Re: 1955 Patrician Brakes

Posted by HH56 On 2021/9/14 12:02:30

On the power brake conversion, there are no complete drop in kits available for Packards probably because of the location Packard used for the Treadlevac which was space confined and at the very bottom of the pedal arm.

That location provides a pedal ratio of 1:1 which was adequate for the Treadlevac (BTV as it is usually referenced on this forum) due to the way the ram displaces fluid rather than pushes it ahead of a piston. Since modern systems all use a piston to push fluid, none will be able to use that location without pedal modifications to increase the ratio to somewhere in the range of 3.5 up to around 4.5:1. That makes an awkward pedal both in looks and function since it usually raises the pedal or drops more toward the floor -- either approach a distance away from the original location.

For that reason many have started mounting a booster in the area of the Left air vent. Removing the air tube and making a plate to cover the opening, then mounting the booster has been done but almost everyone has picked a unit out of a junkyard in order to also get a suspended pedal with the proper ratio for their particular booster. I know of one Ford Ranger setup and another who used a Chevrolet booster and pedal. Others have done fabrication of their own designs to mount universal boosters from MPB and whatever generic dual master that will bolt onto the booster they chose. Boosters have been 7" single, 7 1/2 dual and even an 8" Master piston diameter has been fairly consistent at 1" though. Pedal was in most cases a generic hanging pedal.

Guess the long and short is there are no consistent part numbers or tried and proven conversions to recommend. The late Craig Hendrickson did the first mod and had some numbers on his now defunct website. Since that is gone except for a few pages found in web archives about the best you can do a search for BTV related posts on this forum. There are many! Several of the threads have some photos and indications of what others have done.