Thanks for the detailed information. Where did you find this or was it from experiance first hand..
First-hand experience with mid-'80s C20 hydro, '00 C3500 hydro, '00 C3500 pressure lines, early-'90s F-Superduty pressure lines, F-series C2 and E-series Saginaw pumps, and also a '70s Lincoln Saginaw pump.
Chev line won't fit in Ford and ford does fit chev loose JUST AS YOU SAY! Also I don't feel the ends look similar enough to warrant using. Thus I'm back to...
HAVING CUSTOM lines MADE for SAGINAW pump to FORD booster.
Had I been able to just use pre-existing lines great! Allan's Hose n All can make custom lines up in Kelowna. Get two made in case one blows...have spare to carry!
The flared ends looked the same to me. At least where the O-ring seals. Come to think of it there's a good chance I used a GM o-ring on my Ford hydro-to-gearbox line. Nuts are different tho, like you say Ford nuts in GM hydro are loose fit. Actually the hydro-to-gearbox is dang near identical, it threads in about as tight as any replacement line I've had to thread into a Ford C2 pump. The pump-to-hydro is the one that's real loose, but I got quite a few thousand trouble-free miles that prove it still seals fine (ignorance is bliss they say). Still I wouldn't recommend anyone to run the Ford lines on a GM hydro, just because you can doesn't mean you should.
I have a #6 E series pump and 1/2 line...the end that goes into the saginaw pump but not the opposite end!
You should be able to just unthread that AN fitting and replace it with your factory E-series or a factory '80s or '90s fullsize GM fitting, this will allow you to run the GM pressure line. To my knowledge there is no direct-fit fitting that will allow you to run a F-Superduty pressure line on a Saginaw pump... but one can be made easily enough (read Jon's quote in my siggy)
That said, with hydro assist I'd run as big lines as possible. Thing is tho, the hydroboost won't flow it, especially when you're on the brakes. According to Pirate sources there are modifications that can be made to remedy this. Do your diligent research and get in touch with the company that makes it happen (I know of one, there may be more), and see if they alter the hydro line ports in any way - no sense in having custom lines made only to find out they'll have to be reworked if the booster requires porting out.
Now after personally checking the fitment of lines, the only way I would use the GM setup would be to use ALL GM parts pump and booster and adapt the setup to fit FORD by changing mounting plates etc.
And even then you'll still run into the pedal pushrod issue, the GM one is about 2.5" longer than what Ford used, thus requiring either spacing the booster away from the firewall (what I did) or cutting and rewelding the pushrod. Either allows you to fine-tune your pedal height tho, I lifted mine up slightly cause I never liked it how low it sits from the factory. Then there is the master cylinder issue, with the plunger length and piston bore depth I mention. On the flip side you can use a myriad of GM masters in all sorts of sizes and port configurations... I recommend '79 350-powered C10 master for the 1-1/8" bore and '79 454-powered C30 master for the 1-1/4" bore, both a cheap and reliable and hold stupid amounts of brake fluid. Newer masters with see-thru tanks are also option, but they are more expensive and I'm a cheap basterd.
Better to use a FORD setup IMHO and if you have to have a SAGINAW pump like I want, then I"d suggest custom lines like I still plan on!
Or grab a Saginaw fitting and a C2 pump fitting and take them to a machine shop to have them turned and pressed and welded together. Then you can run factory Ford lines you can get at any parts store.
ONE more thing, since the newer 03 model HYDRO is metric I wonder if those fit the GM stuff...something else to check on for cross fit!
Supposedly that booster has 16mm on both inlet and outlet ports, GM uses 18mm on one side and 16mm on the other. Thus it will be a no-go. You do have the F350 booster at hand tho, so measure it up and see what ports it has.
You can drill new firewall holes to fit the chevy hydroboost too but thats so work right there. Those mounting plates are only held on with a small spanner nut that knocks off easily. Nice to know you have all the parts to swap over.
