About Our Company

Hi. My name is David Schultz and I am the owner of manualbrakes.com LLC.

I was introduced to the G-body cars back in 1978 when my Great Aunt Norma bought a Light Green Metallic with Dark Green cloth interior 1978 Malibu Classic Sedan. The following year, my Grandfather bought a new 1979 Malibu Classic station wagon that was Dark Carmine Metallic exterior with a Carmine interior. My cousin drove a 1978 Monte Carlo through high school and college and his brother drove a 1982 Cutlass Supreme. In 1985, my father bought a 1980 El Camino which I now own and developed the MANUALBRAKES.COM "KIT"

When I went off to school, I bought my Grandfather's 1979 Malibu station wagon and drove it through my school years. During my working career, I bought and drove my Great Aunts 1978 Malibu Classic, which I still own. A few years ago, I bought my father's 1980 El Camino which has become "The Mule" to test brake pads/shoes, different size master cylinders, and brake calipers.

Before MANUALBRAKES.COM, I started selling replicas of the factory G-body manual brake plate on eBay made of 1/8" thick aluminum plate . From this simple plate, I found there was a market for a custom adjustable, manual brake push rod for a G-body plus an adapter plate to hold and retain the push rod. I starting selling both of these on eBay as well. The adapter plate could be upgraded with a rubber firewall gasket and stainless steel mounting hardware.

Now that the adapter plate with push rod retention cup, gasket, stainless steel mounting hardware, and customer adjustable push rod where developed for the G-body, next came the development of the 1st generation S10 adapter plate assembly and custom adjustable, manual brake push rod.

Customers would ask me what master cylinder should they use for the manual brake conversion adapter plates and push rods. I realized there was not a master cylinder selection that would work with the angled firewall of the G-body, that was reasonably priced, the correct 7/8" bore size, and was light weight. This led me on a quest to source and master cylinder that fit these criteria. Most master cylinders offered for manual brake conversion where oversized and would cause a very firm pedal with very underperforming braking. Through my search, I was able to source a light weight aluminum, MOPAR style master cylinder with a 7/8" bore that would work well with the G-body and S10 brake systems. I also was able to source the correct brake line adapters to mate the MOPAR style master cylinder to the G-body and S10 master cylinder brake lines. When I found the right master cylinder and the correct brake line adapters, the "KIT" was complete and posted on eBay.

After the "KIT" was developed, I found the domain name MANUALBRAKES.COM and use it along with my eBay ads to sell the manual brake conversion parts for the G-body and S10. Soon there after, I developed manual brake conversion for parts for the 2nd Generation S10, the 3rd generation F-body, and the 4th generation F-body.

At MANUALBRAKES.COM, we strive to develop manual brake parts custom designed to fit and function on the 1978-1988 G-body, 1982-2003 S10 Trucks and SUVs, and the 1982-2002 F-body. If for any reason you have any questions about the install, or the performance of your manual brakes after the installation of the manualbrakes.com system, please contact me, David Schultz, directly at 832-264-5566