400i: Braking Effort

[simonc]

Oops. Sorry you are right of course. I had completely missed that. Maybe you could bend your pipes to fit, should be easy enough, or fit new pipes as they are only about 18-24 inches long as I remember. It would be a shame to not use the master cylinder as it is new.

[fest]

simon et al-

I checked on the car today
and the master cylinder
appears to be the opposite
i.e. outlets for fluid on other side
(interestingly the replacement casting has bosses for both applications, with only one being used)

I will have to decide if I want to make it work I guess

more thoughts on the vacuum issue;

I plan to get a vacuum gage
that I can hook up to the vacuum sources
to the booster, and then drive the car
and see if I can correlate brake performance
(and brake light activation)
to vacuum level readings
I can also use it check the output
from the vacuum pump
(have you tried this?)

another thing I am going to consider
is trying to find a 12VDC Vacuum Pump
that I can use for diagnostic purposes
i.e. hook up a known good constant source of vacuum
to the booster and monitor performance

a good tip on the link you provided regarding brakes BTW
I think the 400i has only one engine vacuum source as well
(the RH bank I think it is)
maybe hooking up both banks would help
as well as installing a vacuum reserve tank

all things to consider...

I am going to start with the basics:
check condition of hoses, clamps and leak test