Master cylinder, brake booster

[Shadowv4l]

I'm looking for the correct master cylinder and brake booster for my 88CSXT. I have a 94 shadow and i'm looking to upgrade the MC and booster. The reason I want to do this is because I hate the feeling of my 94's brake pedal, the csxt has an awesome pedal and i'm trying to duplicate that same feeling. Also I have a feeling the 94's MC could possibly be leaking fluid into the brake booster, fluid seams to be leaking out with zero trace of leaks.

I looked on rockauto but they dont give me much of a description and some of them mention w/o shelby, I want to make sure I get the Shelby style MC and booster.

thanks!

[turbovanman²]

Master cylinder, just get one for an 89 Caravan, they are all 24mm, they can't mess that up. Booster, your on your own, :eyebrows:

[Shadowv4l]

im guessing the caravan's MC is the largest with the most force? I have a feeling the Booster has alot to do with the pedal feeling mushy, the damn thing goes down nearly half way before any brake feeling is felt and the system has been blead of air numerous times over the years with new higher tems fluid. The car has always had a squishy pedal feel to it no matter what brakes i had on.
also it is an automatic 4speed with a 3.0L , not sure if that matters or not, and I also converted the rear drums to disk and changed the Prop valve. The conversion helped a little but since Ive been driving the csxt the damn pedal has been bothering me.

[135sohc]

put the big MC on mine, love it.... Firmer pedal feel for sure. Still have the stock single diaphram booster along with the 60mm minivan calipers. I can lockup all 4 wheels.

[Shadowv4l]

ok, next question. Which booster would feel better? the dual diaphram one for an auto or a single?
My guess would be a single since the manual trans csxt's pedal feels firmer, right?

[turbovanman²]

If you kept the stock MC and upgraded your brakes, that's why you have a mushy pedal, you need more volume and the 24mm master delivers that. All 4 wheel disc brake cars came with the 24mm but parts stores etc get it wrong, hence the suggestion to use the van MC.

[Shadowv4l]

that makes sense. Why would they use two different style booster's? Is it because an automatic car is supposed to feel more "comfy" compared to a manual car? or maybe because the manual car has the clutch pedal and they didnt want you to have to push the brake pedal down so far for it to finally feel like something? Im just trying to figure out why anyone would want a brake pedal "mush" half way down before working. I know for a fact that Manufacturers do this, im just not sure why.

[turbovanman²]

Not sure on the boosters-but some are done due to size/packaging constraints etc. I've never noticed a different pedal feel between the various models if they have the proper components.

[Shadowv4l]

Maybe i'll just install the bigger MC and go from there. Its not like its really hard to replace a booster if it comes down to that.
thanks for the help :)

[135sohc]

I think (and this is just my thought) the manual transmissions simply dont put the extra load on the engine like an automatic does. take your foot off the gas and the engine braking is immediatly taking over. So theres less booster required.

[Shadowv4l]

so that would mean the dual diaphram would actually create more force. hmmmmmm..... I wonder what would happen if i used a dual diaphram in a manual car with a 24mm MC. Probably too much tire lockage-uppage. hahaha