Is it me or are previous owners hacks?

[BigmanjbMOPAR]

Since buying this car which was supposedly just taken apart for paint and body prep we sure seem to be buying a lot of factory replacement parts.

Have to buy the bolt that goes into the brake pedal rod https://www.manciniracing.com/maramcpubo.html


Seems the old owner had some mix and match bolts going on and when we had a ton of play in the pedal to booster it became painfully obvious we needed the correct parts. sigh ... we have been buying factory parts like no tomorrow just to make the car safe again. how do people drive their cars with such rigged up stuff? worn out parts I get but just random bolts and nuts and no clips etc scary.

Any way we have a new power booster installed and have the vac line hooked up to the manifold of the 383 but the pedal was so jammed up I couldn't even bleed the new brakes I'm hoping the new bolt from Mancinins will fix this mess also hoping I can get that dam spring back on!
how much force should there be on the power brakes? and how far down should the pedal go? How is the return spring pressure? does it work well to bring the pedal up?

[Dakota]

For the over-center spring on the brake pedal, I loop some clothesline rope through the rear ended of the spring.  With the front end hooked on place, it takes a pretty good tug but it'll goo back in place. 

As for being hacks... I think a lot of people did the best they knew how.   We have lots of parts available now (for $$'s of course) that we can find fairly easily, plus we also have information like what comes through this forum that wasn't available in the pre-internet days. 

My car was in good shape as far as the body and most original parts were there too, but the wiring was a complete mess - some because of "interesting" repair  work and some just from age. 

[71vert340]

There are a lot more reproduction parts available now than there was even 10 years ago. You had to find NOS, make do or get a machine shop to make you a part or buy a lathe and mill to make your own. To me, it's easier now if you're not going with NOS parts. Computers searches for parts have also made it easier in the last 20 years.
Terry

[JonH]

Over center spring on the brake pedal? What am I missing?

[Dakota]

Sorry - I was thinking of the spring on the clutch pedal.  My mistake. 

[Gary AAR]

Is there a smaller spring that hooks into the brake pedal link on one end, and the other end into the brake/clutch pedal support bracket?  Anyone have a picture of this spring installed?

[Dmod1974]

Sometimes the current owners are (or were) hacks too, LOL.  I cringed at some of the stupid stuff I did when I was 16 and consequently have had to undo at 36.

Soooo many hard to find parts tossed or hacked up that I thought I'd never need to worry about or could do better by modifying it.  Sometimes I was right, but there's a lot of stuff I think I changed out just for the sake of modifying.   

[BigmanjbMOPAR]

There is a spring that was connected to the push rod a groove in the rod and to a hole way up high in the support bracket. not sure if this is a factory spring and not even sure how it would help to return the pedal.

One thing is for sure trying to get this spring back to where it was is impossible spent 3 hours on it and gave up.

A picture of it attached.

[Gary AAR]

My 70 Cuda had this spring (4 speed with power disc brakes).  I thought that is where the spring connected, but wasn't sure.  When disassembling the car I took pictures, but didn't capture one that showed how the spring attached to the brake link.  When reassembling, I hooked the spring into the pedal support bracket first, and then used a small pick tool with a hook on the end to grab the other end of the spring and stretched it over the brake link and hooked the spring into the groove in the brake link.

[anlauto]

My 70 Cuda had this spring (4 speed with power disc brakes).  I thought that is where the spring connected, but wasn't sure.  When disassembling the car I took pictures, but didn't capture one that showed how the spring attached to the brake link.  When reassembling, I hooked the spring into the pedal support bracket first, and then used a small pick tool with a hook on the end to grab the other end of the spring and stretched it over the brake link and hooked the spring into the groove in the brake link.

Exactly how it goes