What about this booster?


Has anyone used or know someone that has this power brake booster installed? The original one is plastic and costs over $300.00, $439.00 at a Chevy dealer.
This one is from MidAmerica and costs $169.99

Corvette Central has one that looks the same for $164.95

What do you think?

 

That's because the dealer is selling OEM parts. You will always pay a premium for that. But, when you buy components, especially brake components from companies, you need to find out where these parts were made. If this booster was made in China or one of those countries that pays their employees $.05 an hour (purposely sarcastic), I'd stay away from it. The brake system is one place where I wouldn't want to be stingy and save a buck. When dealing with the brake system, I'd look for the highest quality product available. If Mid Am. is selling the booster for $165 and the dealer has it for $439, never mind that it's a dealer, I'd wonder why there was such a price discrepancy. Quality has got to play a part in the price disparity.

 

For $169 that's plenty for a rolled tin can. $439 is just plain ridiculous. Also more $$$ does not equal more quality, that's just plain silly.

It's a booster, not a timing gear. If it starts leaking, well just use some leg muscle and stop the car.

Get the booster, save some money. I'd much rather have a metal one on there myself, and if mine goes out I'm getting that exact same thing.

 

alfonso gomez, i've got an original booster from an 86 and one from a 90, they are different. will sell either for $100 plus shipping.

 

Buy the nice metal one.

If you'd like a genuine plastic GM booster that melts from the header heat, I'll trade you mine for the nice metal one.

 

$170 is about right for an aftermarket booster.


There are few things you should find out before buying it if you can:

You should get this info for both the original and the aftermarket booster to compare:

1. the boost ratio
2. boost run-out
3. maximum travel

1 gives you the amount of assist

2 gives you the maximum assist before the pedal goes 1:1

3 gives you the travel, which is important since it needs to be as least as much as the travel of the master cylinder to max pressure.

1 can be different from stock, you just want to know if your going to have more or less assist so you know how the pedal effort will be effected.

2 is should be at least as much as the original to make sure you get maximum brake power.

Just because it fits doesn't mean it work operate the same as stock.

Also, if Mid-America can tell you, ask who manufactured the booster. And yes, some are made in China. So are many OE boosters from Bosch and Continental-Teves, the two largest brake suppliers in the world.

 

Well, I went ahead and bought this one from MidAmerica. It was backordered but I received it this week. In spite of a sprained lower back, I went ahead and installed the new one (that really hurts ) . After dropping the bolts a couple of times, which required getting out of the car to find them, I finally got it installed. When I connected the battery to start the car, I noticed my brake lights were on. So, I dove under the dash once more to check things out and found that the brake pedal does not return completely, so it does not actuate the stop light switches. Besides removing the booster to measure the rod length (which I should have done before the install), can the switches be moved forward so the pedal engages the switches when I release the brake pedal? Or how about gluing a piece of thick rubber or plastic to the pedal to "fill the gap" between the pedal and the switches?
Crawling back under the dash to remove the booster is sooooooo painful..........
Also, I checked in the old booster if there was an adjusting nut on the rod and found that there is none. So I must conclude thet the new booster does not have it.
What now???

 

Haven't done a chevy booster yet, but I know the last one I did (on an older ford van) the rod just screwed in an out-no nut.Check your old booster-measure the rod length-then see if it's adjustable.The Haynes manual says "The power brake booster does have a fitting for adjustment on the push rod which attaches to the brake pedal". A word of caution here-when I adjusted the van rod I made it to long, and the results were the brake was being constantly applied.Check your Helms manual.

 

Get the ones made in Mexico. Hear they pay .0857634/hr, which is more than China .Maybe the quality is better

 

I just priced an OEM booster for my 86 at gmpartsdirect.com for around $225. List was over $400.

 

There should be a nut on the booster pushrod on the master cylinder end of the rod. Grab the rod with some vice-grips and use a wrench to adjust the nut. A little goes a long way.

 

Yeah, I just got a quote from GM and they told me its $400 for an oem brake booster + $100 worth of labor to install. I told them, ummm... no thank you. I'd rather get the metal one from Mid America since I know GM plastic these days is pretty low quality material especially if the car's part is from the 80s.

 

 

I think I paid ~$100 at autozone for my new shiney plastic one. So far so good.

 

I bought one last year for my 86 from O'Reilly's auto parts for just over $100, exchange, has a warranty too.

This was before I found out about the metalk version, if I had only known . . .

Still going strong though.

Jake

 

I just got my from Mid America last saturday. $169.99, It was on back order for about 2 weeks. But it looks very well made, And a hell of a lot cheaper than buying from the dealer. I'm going to istall it in the next few weeks or as soon as the flubing snow clears up.

 

OK, Zaragoza. Read the following. I hope you do not have the bad luck I had. Be sure to thoroughly test the booster after the install. Try it in no traffic to see is what happened to me also happens to you.
Good luck. Read on:

I washed the car since it was sitting for 5 weeks and was very dirty. Took it out for a test drive and the brakes seemed to work properly. Then I decided to get some take-out for me and the wife and drove to a nearby restaurant. Was doing about 40 mph when I decided to test the brakes by stopping hard. When I stepped hard on the brakes, I heard a sharp crack and was left with MINIMAL stopping power. It was so bad that I had to downshift to get the car to completely stop. Then , after stopping, I pressed the brake pedal with my left foot and with my right foot gave it a little gas in Drive. The car shot forward This does not sound good. I got my food and drove back home VERY SLOWLY . I am SO COMPLETELY PISSED .
There is no way, in my opinion, that a person with mechanical inclinations and some basic tools can screw up a brake booster installation. It is straightforward although unconfortable but anyone can do it. The booster only goes in one way, there are only 2 bolts holding it to the firewall, only 2 bolts for the master cylinder, and a cotter pin and 2 washers to secure the connecting rod to the pedal.
So I must conclude that something INSIDE the booster broke.
Any ideas before I take everything apart? Definitely I am calling MidAmerica Motorworks first thing Monday morning and tell them I am returning the booster because it broke. Can you imagine this happening at a higher rate of speed and having to hit the brakes during a panic stop? The car (and me) would have been demolished.
Any opinions on where can I have gone wrong or is it just bad luck I got a bad booster?

 

Except for high performance parts, it's always a good idea to stick with OEM. List price has nothing to do with actual price paid at the counter, so $400 listed from a previous post is ridiculous. You may be one of the few who have gotten defective parts or most of them might be crap. Who knows?

I still believe that when you're dealing with the brake system, unless you go high performance, get OEM. Don't buy parts from a country whose workers get paid in a year what you make in a day.

 

The brake light switch has a pretty good range of adjustment on it. Push the pedal all the way down with your hands, then push on the backside of the switch housing. Then let the brake pedal return under its own spring pressure and this will set the brake light switch.

 

The sharp crack you heard was probably the plastic housing splitting. Once cracked, it will no longer hold vacuum, which explains the loss of normal brake pedal performance.

Take a close look at the booster, you'll probably find the crack. Use a strong drop light and, if necessary, a mirror to be able to see the back side.

They ususally crack on the inboard side, down low toward the exhaust which is the weakest point due to the exhaust heat. In your case, though, since it's new the crack could be anywhere.

Let us know what you find.

Jake