1963 Brake Booster Issues

Hi Bill,
You were a help to me several years ago with my 57 MK II brake booster which had a rebuild at your shop. Now my “Blue Chip” 63 sedan is needing some of your advise as well.
Abruptly, the power assist stopped working for the brakes. Following the manual on page 2-16
Under “HARD PEDAL” symptoms; items 1 thru 4 and 10 thru 14 do seem to be properly function issues. Items 5 thru 9 are my concerns and which of those Items, if any, can I check without pulling the unit. The diagrams are not complete enough for me to locate parts described in 5 thru 9.
As you know pulling the power booster requires lots of acrobatics under the dash to get the mount bolts so that is my last resort.
The knowledge and entertainment value from Bill’s Corner is priceless to all of your fans. Thanks for your important and unique service to us.
Regards,
Bob
—————————————————————————————————————-
Dear Bob –
We are glad that you are enjoying the blog. From your description of your brake problem (sudden loss of booster assist) it sure sounds like a booster failure. I am not at Lincoln Land at the moment so Erik Dalemans has read the parts of the manual that you are referring to. He called me and agreed that if you have not lost engine vacuum supply to the booster the booster must be removed for service. The booster can be troublesome to remove and reinstall as you describe but one tip that I can suggest is to loosen the nuts with the larger 3/8 inch drives or wrenches and then finish removing them with a smaller 1/4 inch drive ratchet using extensions and swivels etc. that are cleverly configured to give you easier movement. When you take some extra time to set your tools up this way you may be surprised at how much easier the job can be. Be sure to first check that you have full engine vacuum to the booster before removing it. We sure hope that this helps.
Sincerely,
Bill