Frankenstein '56: VT Commodore Booster/ Master Cylinder fitted to my F100

Rather than try something new, I opted for a solution that worked well last time on my '54 F100, and thinking it will work just as well with this '56. The only difference was, this time I am doing it myself.

Some time ago, I bought a piece of 200mm x sqaure 10mm flat mild steel plate through eBay. It was an expensive way of doing things but it came lazer cut and already had four holes pre drilled. 10mm was probably way too thick, but I didn't realise this at the time. I could have easily gotten away with half that thickness. Anyway, more on that in a second.

I bought a bi metal holesaw kit (Craftright brand) from Bunnings for not much money. Thankfully it lasted until the job was done before stripping its thread and flying off.

The bad new was I hadn't measured what sized hole I would need to accomodate the VT Commodore master cylinder as I hadn't purchased one at the time. Why did I purchase a GM product? Well, I was advised many years ago that they were a simple system and had a 1" bore suitable for my needs. Plus, if you include the brake pedal, they provide a very easy option.

I found a good booster and master cylinder from a guy in Yanderra for $60. When I got it home I realised it was not going to fit through my expensive steel plate, so I had to enlarge the hole in the steel. Out came the biggest holesaw in the kit and I proceeded to enlarge the hole. This is how I did it:

It worked fine and then the second holesaw carked it, but it had done enough to cut this hole. When it came time to enlarge the hole in the firewall I had to weld the holesaw to the bit to get it to stay on.

Sadly, after all this work, I realised the plate was too thick, as it wouldn't bolt up to the pedal assembly. I should have known straight away that it wasn't going to work, as the firewall has ridges in it that make the plate uneven. The only solution was to use a thinner plate.

So, off I toddled, spending another hour or more cutting and drilling a new thinner plate, only to realise the thin plate I used (it was all I had) just wasn't going to be sturdy enough. I went through the whole consideration of using stud extending nuts but I just couldn't see how that would have worked.

My only option was to cut a big slab of the firewall out and weld the thinner plate I'd just made to the firewall and then try the thick plate. I just didn't want to waste all that time for nothing.

Well. the bottom line is yes, it did work! I only have to clean up my dodgy welds and put a light layer of filler over the whole deal and it should be fine.