Brake Light Switch

[Shelly Harris]

Backing out of the garage and the brake pedal went straight down to the floor. No Brakes. Fortunately I remembered where the hand brake was and it worked...stoped just short of rolling into the bushes.

I lifted up the front hood to find brake fluid all over the driver's side of the compartment. All the oil came out of the Brake Switch housing. It was still on nice and snug but something fractured in it causing a major sudden oil losss. Thankfully I wasn't roaring on the expressway. Along with our brakes being a single system, this cheap little switch is a potential major disaster! I think I'll always be worried about the design of this car's brakes!

So the car was flat bedded to the mechanic to replace a switch, if he can find one. Also the brakes now need to be bled, etc.

Anyone have thoughts about the Mark II's brakes?

[Barry Wolk]

My brakes are the best I've experienced on a '50s car. The shoes are wide and the drums are big. The biggest problem with the drum brakes on any car is that installers no longer arc the shoes to match the drums. That results in an initial small contact patch that can easily glaze. Not many shops have arcing machines anymore because of EPA regulations. However, big truck service centers still have them.

On the brake light switch. Unfortunately, all that separates the flammable brake fluid from the "hot" electrical contacts is a membrane that pushes on a set of contacts to open and close them. That's exactly the problem that the F-series Ford pick-ups had as they had constant power to the cruise control release switch, pretty much the same set-up as our Mark II brake switch.

If you're not all that concerned about authenticity, a modern brake switch might be in order. You may have to use some brass adapters, and, I'd be concerned with height. You may have to elbow a different one off to the side.

That would be scary, having no brakes. Good reaction time, though.:eek:

[CarMan]

Let's set aside talks of keeping it stock or not. But now may be a good time to upgrade your car to a front disc system. A conversion kit with the whole setup including the calipers master cyl, brake boost, proportioning valve, hoses and bearings and all. Then you can have a dual circuit master and more piece of mind. Just have to make sure the calipers would fit your existing wheel. You MAY have a variety of places to choose from. These are more for musclecars, but a few I know of are
http://www.inlinetube.com/
http://www.yearone.com/

Dave

[depmike38]

Shelly,
The previous owner of my car had made a list of a lot of common items that are used on these cars and had referenced brands and part numbers you can purchase at an auto parts store. He wrote sort of small so I'm going to see if I can blow it up a bit, re-copy and post it. Anything we can buy locally would have to be useful and would get around the counter people not understanding what the car is.

[Mad Scientist]

If you what an original brake light switch check with Berry he might have an extra one, if not he will very shortly. Aside from authenticity just about any brake switch could be made to work.

In terms of adding disc brakes to the MKII your options are very limited. While there are many disc brakes conversions on the market they will not work on the MKII or Lincolns of that year. It seems that our axles are slightly larger in diameter then the majority of all other cars thus making the conversion difficult.

But it can be done!
See the very first thread in this section on how I did it. :D

[Shelly Harris]

For those needing a brake light switch here is the NAPA number:

NAPA calls it a Stop Light Switch #SL134

[Barry Wolk]

Here's a link to use of that switch. They said it doesn't activate at low pressure, like it should. They recommended using a Harley brake light switch as it's designed to activate at a lower pressure.

http://www.cckw.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3881&sid=c3974c3f6c1c13088936bf39e6fd69b4