65 Brake Booster Nightmare!

[John Morris]

Hello folks. I must remove the brake booster from my 65. Under the dash it looks impossible to get the the upper 2 bolts. There are tons and tons of underdash parts in the way and it looks hopeless. I could never remember where all that stuff goes back. Is there a method to the madness?

[Ralph Messina CLC 4937]

Hi John,

Don’t let the complexity get you before you start. It’s just a bunch of parts that go back together the same way you took them apart. The key with a viper’s nest of wiring and hoses is to draw a diagram of the connections and tag the wires / vacuum hoses. Get a magnetic tray to hold all the small clips and screws, they get lost easily. Make a sufficiently detailed drawing and label as many items, so you have a clear picture of the area without looking at the actual car. That should provide the clarity you’ll need to reassemble things.

The trunk closure should be the same as the one on my ’66. There’s a piston mechanism on the passenger side hinge that rides on roller cam surface. This provides the motive power which is transmitted to the latch / closing mechanism via a Bowden cable that lies along the trunk floor.  If your car has had any water problems in the trunk it may well have rusted the cable. Once it rusts enough, it no longer moves and the automatic closure doesn’t work. The cable is attached to the latch and piston with detent type spring clips. The latch mechanism is bolted to the back wall of the trunk. Release the cable at either end and the piston will unhook from the hinge mount. Before removing anything else check to see that the cable wire slides freely in its casing. If it’s stuck, you most likely found your problem. Unfortunately, the cables are scarce and expensive. I believe this 57” cable was used from ’62 through ’68. If you have to remove the latch mechanism, scribe it’s location before removing. It will make alignment easier when you reassemble it. The latch is a spring loaded mechanism and anything broken should be obvious.

HTH,

Ralph

[John Morris]

Thanks very much Ralph. I will get started on the trunk job. I actually got the booster removed, it was very difficult. The 4 nuts were behind the firewall pad which I damaged. The brake switch had to come off, steering column dropped down too. To correctly remove the pad the entire underdash contents would have to be removed. Getting the nuts ect back on will be even more difficult. John.