Note: This problem appears to be specific to the 164 because of the compound brake pedal linkage
and the fact that the brake booster is mounted direct to the firewall, so 140 experience will
be little or no help.

I am in the throes of trying to take the failing brake booster out of the Mroon 72 164E that Kent gave me. It is headed south with fairly ineffective braking and lots of whistling sounds when I step on the brake. I have done this job before but it has been at least 20 years, maybe longer. I remember it as tedious but nowhere near impossible. But now I am over 70 and stiffer and not as strong as I used to be. (Maybe not as smart also.)

There are 4 studs in the back of the brake booster that on the 164 go through a box in the firewall and through the pedal mounting box inside to hold them together. Once you get the clutch pedal and its pivot out of the way the left two nuts are fairly easy to get to, and the top one on the right is not too bad although pretty high on the firewall. But the pedal box and its compound linkage and also the steering column are very much in the way of the lower nut on the right side so I have not been able to snake an assembly of socket extensions in there. Do any of you folx remember a trick to this that I might have forgotten?

Also I have 2 used boosters on the shelf. Is there any quick way to tell if one of the two has a good diaphragm? Looks like it would need a master cylinder bolted to it to keep all the vacuum from leaking out....
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George Downs Bartlesville, Oklahoma