1968-1973 Corvette Power Brake Conversion

More power, more power….. That’s the chant of most Corvette owners over the years, especially those that have come from the muscle car generation. You remember the time when a stock 1970 LT1 had a bone crushing 370hp solid lifter small block or how about the 1971 454/365hp with an automatic. Now that’s was a real grocery getter for the wife. Funny how our youthful obsession with power didn’t equally match our obsession to get all that power STOPPED – Many of those C3 Corvette were performance driven but still relied on manual brakes for stopping power. We’ll obviously Chevrolet woke up by making power brakes a standard option on all 1976 and later Corvettes – but for you early C3 Corvette enthusiasts what’s an owner to do? Well – how about 1968-1973 Corvette Power Brake Conversion!

And that’s exactly what we’ve done here at Zip Corvette Parts.

Follow along with the installation of our 1968-1973 Corvette power brake conversion kit. Not only will we have you on the road shortly – but you’ll feel safer than ever with a power brake system that will have you stopping on a dime!

Step 1

01: Remove the brake fluid from the Master Cylinder, usually a cheap turkey baster will work well for this. Please note that brake fluid is caustic so it will damage your paint if you get any on it.

Step 2

02: Once, drained, remove original non-power Master Cylinder and Master Cylinder lines.

Step 3

03: Once the Master Cylinder is removed, you will need to remove the upper studs by driving them out with a hammer and the lower bolts on the firewall. These two bolts help hold the pedal assembly to the firewall, the new brake booster will have studs that will replace these.

Step 4

04: Using the supplied brake booster gasket, align it with the lower holes on the firewall. Using a silver marker draw the center hole and the four bolt holes for the booster. The bottom holes are in the correct position but will need to be opened up.

Step 5

05: Drill a small pilot hole through the top hole, once you have done this follow through with a 3/8 drill on both the top and bottom holes.  You will have to use an air saw or something similar to cut the center hole. It will look like a egg when it is done.

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Step 6

06: Remove the push rod from the pedal and the stop light switch bracket, these will be replaced.

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Step 7

07: Now go ahead and pre-mount the booster and check the fitment. If you are having trouble you can enlarge the holes just a little. If you look on the inside you should see where the booster studs come through each of the corners of the pedal assembly. Once everything is fitting, remove the booster and install the gasket and reinstall the booster and tighten it down. Once you have that done you can install the push rod clevis onto the pedal. The push rod and brake switch bracket will be in different locations than before. The push rod clevis will mount in the bottom hole and the bracket will bolt into the upper hole.

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Step 8

08: You can now install the power master cylinder. Once it is mounted you can install the new power master cylinder lines.

09: Now it is time to bleed the system, Zip highly recommends our bleeder part number DB-636 to make a one man job out of this. Remember you always bleed from the furthest to the nearest to the master cylinder. So it goes RR, LR, RF, LF, your rear calipers have two sets of bleeders, you have to bleed the outside of the caliper first, then the inside.

You should now have power brakes on your car, make sure your rear brake light switch is adjusted properly and that your brake lights are working. If there are any questions please feel free to contact us at: 1-800-962-9632

1968-1973 Power Brake Conversion Installation: 1968-1973 Power Brake Conversion Installation

Source: Zip Corvette Parts
8067 Fast Lane | Mechanicsville, VA 23111 | (800) 962-9632

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One Comment

  1. Dave

    Good article

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