boosters

[White88]

Hi everybody, I'm new to this site and I was hoping someone could help me out. I bought my car several weeks ago.C4 1988 coupe all original. Last week my brake booster failed ( hard pedal and making hissing noises) found the EGR pipe running up the engine with the heat protection thingy on had burnt a hole in the booster right where the flange is ,(i have 2-3mm gap between both) so i bought a new one, all good for a couple days untill it happened again, this time the hole was bigger. Okay now i realise how hot these things get. So what do you guys have on your cars as a heat sheild to protect the plastic booster. I saw a metal booster on the corvette forum site the other day I'm thinking of doing a bit of investigation on much and how long to get it here. Any thoughts?

[Thunder Kiss]

Hi White88, welcome to the forum.

My EGR pipe has quite a bit of "woven material" wound around it to protect the booster.  Even though it's fairly thick, there is still around 10mm clearance between it and the booster.

Otherwise I've seen some cars without the EGR pipe at all.  There must be some way around it that doesn't trigger error codes ("service engine soon" light on dash).

Here is a pic of a modified '86 without the pipe (although it does have a metal booster):

[White88]

If anybody you C4 owners are worried about your boosters melting, go to www.hotrodsusa.com they have metal boosters there ,landed in oz for $270.00 AUD a lot cheaper orig part ($480.00) to suit 85-91 models and it won't melt !.Nothing worse than coming off the freeway doing 110kmh and finding the pedal won't go down.It's something the conversion people "should" be doing as a saftey issue. By the way i just bought one last night they said 3-7 days. ( i won't hold my breath)

[Vette Obsessed]

It's not really the conversion peoples fault - GM built these cars (with the exception of ZR1's) with plastic boosters...

[TIPPA]

Maybe White88 is saying with the conversion the booster is on the other side. I own a C3 but assume that this brings it closer to the EGR pipe which in turn melts it... In that case you would prob be right to assume it would be the up to the conversion people to recognise a safety issue like that.... or the RTA (?) for allowing the conversion to meet ADRs.

[onya]

Love the photo of the 86 motor, where do you find them. ;27. I have a 86 and the pipe is about 1 inch for the plastic booster and it shows no sign of melting, but I will now wrap some protector around it. ............
TK how do you keep it so clean.

[White88]

Yes Tippa that's exactly what i'm saying, in the conversion from left to right
the booster is placed right beside the EGR pipe and it gets REALLY HOT without the right protection it can and did melt a hole right through the plastic booster.I've have received and installed the metal booster last week , 9 inch in diameter and not as thick, so now I have 30mm gap and all is good.   ;28

Thanks guys for the responses

[Thunder Kiss]

Originally posted by onya
Love the photo of the 86 motor, where do you find them. ;27.

That photo was taken at the 2004 convention.  The car belongs to the proprietor of Gotech in Melbourne.

[Vette Obsessed]

Seems I misunderstood you white88.  For what its worth cracked plastic boosters (near the bottom - where it is nearest to the exhaust manifold) are fairly common on C4's so I'm not too sure if moving the egr pipe would make a huge difference.

It would be interesting to see if there are similar failures on non-egr cars or cars with well insulated exhausts...

All 1990-1995 ZR1's have metal boosters from the factory.  Not sure what is involved into doing the swap of a ZR1 booster into a "regular" C4 but plan on looking at it eventually.

[White88]

Thanks Vette Obsessed , you can buy metal boosters that bolt right up in the original holes from the states from www.hotrodusa.com cheaper than oem part landed in oz.I fitted mine last week and it seems fine so far. As for moving the egr pipe that wasn't in my plans when you can get metal boosters!.

cheers

[Vette Obsessed]

Thanks White88 - thats some good info. I will take note of that for future reference.  I will eventually be doing the metal booster upgrade once I use up my current one and the backup booster I have in storage...:ado

[Vette Obsessed]

Is there any chance of you loading up some pics of your new metal booster white88?

[White88]

Got some pic's but how do I load them up .....HELP PLEASE;30

[Thunder Kiss]

Originally posted by White88
Got some pic's but how do I load them up .....HELP PLEASE;30

1. Get your pictures hosted on the net.  The easiest way is to get a Photobucket account (it's free).  For example here is mine.

2. From there all you do is copy the "Img" code to one of your posts here.

Easy!

[White88]

Thanks Thunder Kiss, here's some pic's of my metal brake booster.

[Vette Obsessed]

Cool!  Thanks for posting the pics White88!

[ddd]

I've had to replace 2 boosters - each time after having the trannie out and in. We reckon that jacking the engine etc up to get the trannie out causes parts to be lifted and punches a hole in/cracks a heat weakened booster.
We have tracked down a competitively priced metal booster available in melbourne; I don't have the details with me but will post later.

[Shaun]

guys ,  I have also purchased a metal booster from the US on Ebay. $108US + postage.  
check these guys out at.  
http://stores.ebay.com/Hotrod-and-Restoration-Auto-Parts

[coradict72]

No old post is ever too old I just did my second PLASTIC booster mine is about 5mm away from the pipe with shield
  this plastic crap should be a recall.I was thinking of making a better shield but the Metal booster is the go
 I checked site hotrod usa they still have them. for my 88
White88 thanks for the info hows it going {booster}  cheers

[ozpont]

..   ..if you have a need for a new 85-89 Corvette GM/PBR plastic booster.. GM has discontinued them just recently. # 10097690 - some stocks remain in Oz at about 80% of the US value if needed.