Jim sent me some pics and a description of how he converted his Malibu to manual brakes. Below is his description of what he did and some pictures to go with it.
Here are some pics showing how I handled my 81 Malibu manual brake conversion. I ordered the master cyl, rod, and plate that mounts the master cyl from Master power. The bolts that mount the master to the plate were too short and had to be replaced with longer ones. The plate is slotted so I dont have to mess with the mounting holes in the pedal. I’m not having any problem stopping with the pedal rod in the lower hole for drag racing and actually like the feel of it. This was also the location of the pin for the stock power setup. I havent tried to move it to the upper hole, so there is where it will stay. I made a bushing for the pedal so the shoulder bolt will fit thru nicely. I used 1/4 lines from the master into the line lock and 3/16 from there to the calipers. I used 1/4 coming out of the master for the rear and then knocked it down to 3/16 after I got under the drivers floor. Future plans are to come up with a drum setup for the front…I prefer four wheel drums for footbrake style racing. This car does not see any street action. I made a few 1/8 mile test runs before the track closed for the winter to finalize the brake setup.
