Hydro Boost Brake System For Your 1972 Chevrolet Corvette C3 - Stopping Power

We obtained a Level III system for the '72, then waited for a few weeks while Loy was treating the old Stingray to its first repaint in a couple decades. As soon as it was in driveable (but still not completely reassembled as in no hood, gutted interior, and for serious weirdness in our post-installation test drives, no windows!) form, we set aside an afternoon to give the car a boost. Seeing as how the instructions start by stating that removal of the driver's seat "increases ease of kit installation and is highly recommended!" we had a head start. It really didn't make any difference whether the hood was on or off.

The installation is pretty straightforward; the only real hassle is the part where the installer lays on his back, on the floor of the car, with his head and arm(s) beneath the dash to disconnect the brake pedal from the vacuum booster then unbolt the booster from the firewall, from the inside-and, of course, repeating the process in reverse with the hydro-boost unit. Do-it-yourselfers should have a good selection of standard and metric wrenches, a good floor jack, a quality set of jackstands, and a couple bottles of fresh fluid for the power steering pump. Plan on devoting at least two-three hours to the installation. We were quite pleasantly surprised to find that the kit, hoses, and all, hooked right up to the Steeroids rack-and-pinion-just as neatly as it would with an original-style steering system. No muss, no fuss, and no fabricating whatsoever.

The effort is well worthwhile. After topping off the P.S. pump's reservoir, cranking the engine over for a few seconds with the coil lead disconnected (to "prime" the system with fluid) and re-topping the system-we did this entire procedure a couple times, to get a constant fluid level-all the while inspecting for any leaks, it was time for a road test. First we ran the stroker 383 small-block for a few minutes, letting it warm up to its normal 185-degree operating temperature, then checked out the steering and the brakes once final time.

Oops! No windows and no seats. A couple wadded up car covers would do for temporary seating, and who needs a windshield-we'd just have flow-through ventilation. Even as we were pulling out of Loy's shop, Auto Perfections, the difference in pedal feel was very noticeable. There was no vague or iffy assist, caused with the original booster by the low vacuum produced by the car's lumpy idling (relatively long duration) cam. The pedal-and thus brake system-response was smoother, more immediate and, on harder applications of brakes, more linear, than with the vacuum assist.

What about the guy who knows this old Corvette most intimately? "The brakes were already excellent after we'd put on the new setup last year. (Editor's note: the SSBC Force 10 system, October 2001) But, as soon as I hit the pedal, the improvement on these already great brakes was immediate and extremely noticeable. It's a tremendous improvement, a three-to-one one improvement over the standard Corvette brakes"

We'd agree. The hydro-boost system works as claimed, plus it fit perfectly. Yeah, state-of-the-art stuff for vintage Vettes is definitely cool!