No, I'm not saying that as I don't know. But it is quite possible.

Now THERE'S some good, been there, done that advice!

To see what it feels like without the power booster. Pump the brakes about 10 times with the engine off to exhaust the reserve left over and step on the brakes. Either that or disconnect the vacuum supply to the booster. Do not do this on a public road the first time. At best, try it on your driveway as long as it is not inclined very much.

If you keep the same size master cylinder, you will find there will be a tremendous difference in pedal effort required to stop a car with disk brakes wth no power booster. I would bet it requires significantly more than 10 times the pedal pressure. As an abover poster stated, you will literally need both feet on the brakes to even notice that you have applied the brakes.

how much help do you think that throwing 10-20lbs overboard will give you when racing versus the security of good brakes?stripping the doors would surely be of more value.

If you are trying to gain all the power from your Eng. with little or no lose from vacuum at the power plant,then you might think of a vacuum pump to run the power brakes.But what do you do for all the other possible vacuum leaks? Now a days people are using power steering thats a drain on the engine too,Find another way to do it, you will need to drive in hard and have good slowing power for the turns in order to be competitive,JNT

Does the booster affect pedal effort if it is disconnected from the vacuum source?

Yes.

thanks. actually this car came from the factory that way. and i plan to put it back one of these days as the vented rotors have been removed along with the larger calipers.

tom w

this is what i thought. i am wondering how much percentage of boost is actually used.

as i stated above, on a 52 cadillac the master cylinder is the same boosted or unboosted and the pedal pressure with the boost is way too low and too easy to lock up the brakes.

if it is easy to do i want to just try it and see how much different it is.

i have had benzes with power and no power steering and the difference is slight except at low speeds and the feel with manual is much superior.

tom w

I've felt what it is like on cars such as the W202 and W208 with no boost at very low speed. I don't think I would be able to stop the car with both feet on the brake from any amount of speed. As a wild ass guess, I would dare to say you would be looking at required pedal forces well into the hundreds of pounds to stop the car. I don;t know if I may be exagerrating but I am sure it takes significantly more than 10 times the pedal effort. Maybe at least 25 times or more the pedal effort with no boost.

You can give it a very, very catious and low speed no one around try and see what you think. I honestly think on a car with disk brakes and no booster, you will forget you even thought of the idea when you see what it feels like with no boost. It is probably downright scary.