The Ford Barn

miker98038 · 04-05-2026, 10:24 AM

Find a hill with no one around. Slow the car to 15 mph or so, put it in neutral and shut the engine off. Pump the brakes to use up the vacuum in the booster. Then with the brakes on and the car rolling restart the engine. You’ll feel the boost come in. On my hydro unit it puts you thru the windshield. On the Midland, not so bad.

I learned this by accident pushing the manual choke in too early and leaving my neighborhood down a long hill. Obviously you need to be out there alone, no traffic.

Good call on CTCI, my links just came up at random.

04-05-2026, 10:24 AM	#8
miker98038 Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Kent, WA. Tucson, AZ Posts: 1,765	Re: 1956 Thunderbird power brake problem Find a hill with no one around. Slow the car to 15 mph or so, put it in neutral and shut the engine off. Pump the brakes to use up the vacuum in the booster. Then with the brakes on and the car rolling restart the engine. You’ll feel the boost come in. On my hydro unit it puts you thru the windshield. On the Midland, not so bad. I learned this by accident pushing the manual choke in too early and leaving my neighborhood down a long hill. Obviously you need to be out there alone, no traffic. Good call on CTCI, my links just came up at random.