Re: Bendix Treadle Vac Diagnosis

Posted by fredkanter On 2016/8/12 9:59:13

As well V piston air conditioning compressors, mechanical voltage regulators and carburetors went by the wayside but that does not mean that our low mileage '52 should be updated to fuel injection, alternator etc although they are better and perhaps more reliable.

After 1960 there were no integral power unit/master cylinders used by any US manufacturer I know of, the driving force in automobile manufacturing is usually cost. A vacuum diaphragm unit bolted to a master cylinder that is much simpler and nearly identical to the manual unit became industry standard.

In space travel safety above all else is what is paramount and the fact that often only one capsule will be used makes decisions quite different from automobiles where millions of units will be made and a difference of even $1.00 per unit is a significant cost savings.

During my college years I was nearby to Allentown Brake and Wheel, a Bendix distributor and rebuilder and hung out at 2 former Packard dealers who became Rambler dealers. both makes used the BTV and neither had a plethora of cars in for BTV problems.

Indeed my observations of our many daily drivers was anecdotal, our invitation for a free rebuild was more wide ranging.

I still wonder why, as an aeronautical engineer, you didn;'t delve further into failure analysis