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Showing posts with the label hotrod

Retrofit Hydroboost Brakes

Traditional power brakes have used engine vacuum to reduce the physical effort required to stop a car. Some high performance engines, because of the design of their camshafts, do not produce enough vacuum to used vacuum-powered brake power boosters. One alternative is to add a vacuum pump to the accessories driven by the engine. Another is to use the hydraulic pressure supplied by the power steering pump to power the brake booster. This device is called Hydroboost and it replaces the vacuum-operated brake booster. It provides more than twice the pressure than a vacuum diaphragm booster. There are commercial kits to use a hydraulic booster, like Vanco . They offer kits to match the car you are modifying. The most complete kits provide the Hydroboost unit, a new master brake cylinder, a power steering pump and the appropriate hoses with fittings and they are priced at around $900. You can see the parts of the kit by visiting this link . A nice step-by-step installation of the Vanco h...

The Miracle of 12V Relays

Do you want to wire your car so that the Accessory circuit stays on until you open the door after you have turned off the ignition, like many modern cars? Built your own remote start system? Control headlights with a latching relay? This page at The 12 Volt explains how to do that with standard 5-pin 12-volt relays. The entire site is dedicated to similar "tricks of the trade". At Hotrodders.com , this page provides an overview of automotive uses of relays. This page also offers links to other useful pages, including headlight relays , assorted  car wiring diagrams , auto wiring basics and a fix for power windows that use those stupid "wiring eliminators" in the door jambs. Here,  mechanical latching relays  are explained. GM-style power window switches are Dorman 901-018 or 49243 and the special pigtail is ACDelco PT185 . A wiring diagram is found here . A 12-volt latching relay is here . Neutral Safety switch operation, wiring and installation  informat...