Power brake conversion 48 champ

[Jhylant]

I want a power boost in my brakes for a 48 champ. I do not want to go power with disc brakes. I don't want to feel like Fred and Barney, Flintstones. Going to power disc is out of my price range. Any ideas on how to add a booster, can it be done?

[skyway]

Dunno about boosters, but how’s about simply swapping in late model Champion (dual servo) front brakes. Its a bolt in job, and will GREATLY improve your stop.

[r1lark]

Dunno about boosters, but how’s about simply swapping in late model Champion (dual servo) front brakes. Its a bolt in job, and will GREATLY improve your stop.

It is a bolt-on job on '51 and later, but there were apparently a lot of differences in the spindles and hubs on the earlier Champions versus the '51 and later. I looked into this a number of years ago for a friend with a '47 Champion, but it never got past the 'looking'. Here is one thread that talks about putting later brakes on a '49 Champion (mostly on page 2): https://forum.studebakerdriversclub....-a-49-champion

Not saying it can't be done, but I think it's far from a bolt on.

[StudeRich]

The other easier, more affordable option to converting to '54 to '66 Studebaker Drum Brakes, would be Properly rebuilding what you have.
Most Cars 75 years old do Not have all the parts in good condition to know how it would stop if correct.
Replace everything, and it will stop like it was designed to.

Adding a Power Brake Unit will be awkward, expensive and just cause the other Parts to fail sooner.

[bensherb]

If you don't care about keeping it looking "stock" , adding a brake power booster is a piece-o-cake. If you want to keep it looking stock it's a lot harder and much more expensive. You can either install a modern "swing" pedal assembly with modern vacuum booster on the firewall, OR install a more modern , and much smaller than the Studebaker Bendix unit, remote booster and hide it somewhere in or under the car. They use to be very available and cheap, but lately I've only found them available in Australia and they're WAY more expensive than they had been; about 8X more and about 8X what a generic "standard" type firewall mounted vacuum booster goes for now.

[Jeffry Cassel]

Agree with Skyway; older brake systems were not "self energizing " or "self activating". Newer ones are. That simply means later systems used the energy of the primary engaging to activate the secondary (that is why it has so much more material on it.) The result is better stopping with far less pedal pressure required. You won't need a 'booster'