Stock D52 caliper with manual brakes?

[woody80z28]

Is anyone running this setup? Do you have enough pedal travel to stop? I removed the stock 2-15/16 cast iron calipers up front and went to a 2-3/8 to help with a spongy pedal and have never been happy with the brakes. Turns out my master was not bled correctly.

Fast forward to now...master is good and the brakes just dont have the stopping power I expected. Larger piston front caliper would add brake torque at the cost of pedal. Is anyone running them with a manual brake setup. Right now I have a 1" master and a 6:1 pedal ratio.

[MonzaRacer]

You changed area of caliper, you dont swap calipers you swap to smaller bore master cylinder to increase pressures.

[Skip Fix]

The factory manual discs used a 1" MC and I am pretty sure the same large piston caliper.

[woody80z28]

That sounds promising. I did run the stock calipers with a 1" master and the pedal went to the floor, but that master ended up being bad.

[jpgolf14]

Trying to understand the problem. Do you have:

pedal reaches end of stroke before you get the stopping you want?

or

pedal is to hard to push?

John

[woody80z28]

A few years ago when I had the stock 2-15/16 calipers the pedal was spongy and went to the floor. 2-3/8 Wilwood calipers kept the pedal off the floor, but the brakes still sucked. Found out the master was not bled correctly. Got everything bled correctly now and the pedal requires a lot of effort to stop, but a brake gauge test shows 1400psi. Tobin has been helping me through trying to get it sorted out...but I just have not found a remedy yet. He suggested trying the stock calipers again and I was just wondering if anyone else had successfully run those monster pistons with a 1" master and manual brakes.

Wondering if I'd be better off just to convert to 13.4" Z51 stuff...

[Rick Dorion]

I did a disc conversion on my brother's 69 from drum to stock manual disc using a 1" MC. I played with pads but even with Hawk HPS the pedal is too firm for my liking. I haven't tried a 15/16" or 7/8" yet.

[woody80z28]

Too firm as in it takes too much effort to slow the car?

[Rick Dorion]

Right. The pedal effort is high even with the Hawk pads.

[jpgolf14]

Right. The pedal effort is high even with the Hawk pads.

But you have pedal travel to spare? If so, you could go to a smaller master.

[Rick Dorion]

Yup. As noted, I haven't played with other MC's yet. It's my brother's car - a bit far from me :)

[MCB Matt]

Are you running a prop valve/distribution block in the system? Rear disc or drum?

Matt

[Randy67]

I had two 71s with factory manual brakes (Camaro & Formula), both worked great. They stopped without too much effort and pedal travel wasn't excessive. That was with stock replacement pads. Of course I may be more tolerant of pedal effort than some people, so you may not feel the same.

[woody80z28]

Right. The pedal effort is high even with the Hawk pads.
Same here. I'm running Hawk HPS pads with the proper bedding procedure and still unimpressed. Was recommended to just try out a cheap ceramic from the parts store, but I am doubtful that will help.


Are you running a prop valve/distribution block in the system? Rear disc or drum?

Matt
Yes prop valve in rear line (that is adjusted wide open anyway) and just a tee fitting in front. The stock block was tossed.