Hi all

I am looking to go to the wreckers soon and get a VH44 booster to help the Mrs with the drums on my clubby.

First question is, I presume that it has VH44 clearly stamped on it somewhere, if so where?

Secondly, what sort of cars should I be looking at or is it anything 20+yo and see if I am lucky?

Thirdly, is there any way of telling if it is any good before I fit it? I know you can put a kit through it but I don't want to unless I have to.

Cheers

Rick

1) Yes, it has VH44 on it somewhere.

2) Just about anything British, also old holdens and fords (60's models)

3) Generally they do need a kit. Remove the plastic plug fitting at the booster end of the thick hose from the intake manifold. Stick your pinky finger in and wriggle it around. If you get brake flud on your pinky it means it's leaking - rebuild time. 9 out 10 second hand ones seem to have this fault.

Cheers,

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Brett Nicholson
Greendale (near Ballan) VIC.
1971 Morris Mini Moke
1966 Austin Mini
1965 Morris Mini Traveller
1973 LR Series 3 88
2007 LR Freelander 2

VH44-J was the right one I think.
You won't know if it needs a kit until you strip it, but after 30 years don't bet it's good. Mine needed a new cylinder as well as the seal kit.
Bear in mind it is actually a powered master cylinder, if the piston seals fail, you have no brakes.
Just a thought... I'd get a kit in it.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

There are two kits - Major and Minor (duh!) I did have an email from PBR with the numbers but lost it - Just send PBR an email to the service dept and they will tell you - but shop around I was quoted from $96 to $44 for the minor kit. The Major kit is around $150. If you want a good one there is a guy on eBay that refurbishes on an exchange basis for approx $230
so if you get a crappy one for next to nothing you could do an exchange.

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David L


My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell my Mini and tools for the price I told her I paid for them!

Can someone answer this definatively:
If a booster is fitted and the engine stalls while moving, can you stop the car?
Is the braking just heavy or non existent?

VH44-JA actually. But any VH44-J should do. The only difference as far as I know is that some are for LH mounting and some are for RH mounting. The unit is symetrical and by rotating the control valve assembly and the main vacuum assembly they can be adjusted for LH or RH mounting. Late MK2 S and Clubman GT had the PBR VH44-JA booster so these brackets will fit. Late 60's/early 70's 6 cylinder Valiants had the VH44-J booster but it was mounted on the LH side of the engine bay so is probably the wrong hand but can be rotated to fit.
Hydroboost in Melbourne can supply reconditioned boosters. They also do reconditioned Lockheed boosters for MK1 & 2 Cooper S cars but you have to supply the unit.

Hope this help.
RonR

Yes Harley, you can still stop the car with an unboosted system.

The pedal just goes hard, not spongey like it is with a booster

Very heavy braking - but you can stop - usually there is some reserve vacuum but the each time you use the brakes it gets less so try and stop in one

More info on kits here http://universe.websiteactive.com/~ausmini/forums/viewtopic.php?t=25172&highlight=vh44 just to add the minor kit has the small diaphram so if the big diaphram is OK and the spring is OK go with the minor kit (I did in the end)

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David L


My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell my Mini and tools for the price I told her I paid for them!

Harley,
The only thing the booster does is reduce the pedal pressure required for the same braking effect. If the vacuum assist fails then you have to press harder on the pedal. If the booster hydraulics fail you may or may not have brakes depending on the type of failure.

RonR

Save ya self going to the wreckers and getting ur hands dirty, have a bid on this:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Mini-Cooper-S-Br ... dZViewItem

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http://www.youtube.com/user/Hanras

I just want you to be very clear about what a booster is and does. You say to "help the missus with the drums". Drum brakes, despite protestors and purists claims, are relatively inefficient compared to modern disc brake systems. Minis with drums that dont stop very well or not in a straight line usually do so because of the maintanance or wear in the brakes.

Simply fitting a booster is not going to give you better brakes, it is only going to reduce the amount of pedal pressure required to do the same thing. It can also make a car more dangerous in that if the car has a basic brake problem then the booster will exagerate that problem.

ie - if the car pulls to the left or the right when braking, then that is due to incorrect adjustment of the brakes. Fitting a booster will simply make the car pull to the side with a lot less braking effort.

You can see where I am going with this - fitting a booster will make the braking effort by the driver a whole lot less but it is not going to make the brakes themselves any better. It will not solve any inherant design limitations or fundemental brake maintance problems.

I only make those comments so you are totally aware of what you are spending your money on. By all means buy and fit the booster but do it with open eyes.

Look here - www.hydroboost.com.au/index.htm

Understood Mike, reducing the amount of pedal pressure required is the main point to make it easier for the wife. I have new cylinders, flexi hoses, shoes and drums and to me it is fine, but she complains that she has to push the pedal so hard. I simply can't afford 7.5 discs and I don't want 8.4's as I want to keep 10" wheels.

Cheers

Rick

Arpy
Okay thanks mate - I didn't want to sound pompous but i did want you to get a booster for the right reasons.
Hope it works.


BTW I have 7.5 discs on my mini with no booster - the car gets driven fairly irregularly and and live in a rural area with maybe six km before I need to brake. The first couple of pumps are purely to knock off the rust on the disc and the big pedal push is to stop the car. It needs a big push too. But, the stopping is proportional to the pedal pressure.

If brakes dissapeared when boosters failed, brake boosted cars would have been removed from the road many years ago. At least using this design of booster, so rest easy.

Mind you, if the internal seal goes, just like in a master cylinder you will be reaching for the ignition switch and the handbrake rather quickly.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.