1975 Plastic fantastic aka Corvette

[SuperBuickGuy]

Put a hydroboost on it.

Did you rebleed the master too?

no power steering pump

and yes.... there isn't any air, just not awe inspiring brakes. They stop the car, they don't scare me because they don't work, they just don't inspire me.

[milner351]

change pad compound?

[Russell]

I had a friend that put oversized porsche brakes on his TA. What ever pad compound he had cold stoping was worse than the stock brakes, but he said it would put you into the windshield if you ever got the pads hot. For a street car (which his is) seemed like a waste.

[SuperBuickGuy]

change pad compound?

maybe - however, it worked before, just intermittently (poor booster vacuum)

I had a friend that put oversized porsche brakes on his TA. What ever pad compound he had cold stoping was worse than the stock brakes, but he said it would put you into the windshield if you ever got the pads hot. For a street car (which his is) seemed like a waste.

These are roughly the same size as stock, just better materials and no leaks...

[STINEY]

If you jab them very quick (as opposed to just pushing hard on them) do they improve?

I have a car that has awesome brakes....IF you jab it quick (not hard) like in a panic stop.

For normal braking, it is uninspiring (like you describe) but JABBED they are excellent.

I haven't figured it out yet, but your issue reminds me of it a lot.

[SuperBuickGuy]

If you jab them very quick (as opposed to just pushing hard on them) do they improve?

I have a car that has awesome brakes....IF you jab it quick (not hard) like in a panic stop.

For normal braking, it is uninspiring (like you describe) but JABBED they are excellent.

I haven't figured it out yet, but your issue reminds me of it a lot.

the balancer is killing you - replace it, or drill a hole through and balance by using dissimilar sized master cylinders and your problem is solved.

[Russell]

maybe - however, it worked before, just intermittently (poor booster vacuum)



These are roughly the same size as stock, just better materials and no leaks...

Did they ever inspire you? are they worse now than they were before?

[SuperBuickGuy]

Did they ever inspire you? are they worse now than they were before?

yes, to both questions

[Russell]

oh I missed that I was thinking they always where not up to your standards. So the lower vac screwed up the power assist and you have not got it to feel / stop right? I am no help at all... *sit back and let the experts figure it out*

[SuperBuickGuy]

well, you're up to speed - but the problem is this - I put a manual brake MC (1" bore size vs. 1 1/8" bore size) on the car, and the brakes are actually worse than they were with the poor low-speed vacuum.... in reality, they should be better with vacuum, and somewhere between okay and excellent without vacuum..... it's not, it's worse in all situations now

[SuperBuickGuy]

so I went and saw one of my mechanic friends - we're going to try power bleeding it (as opposed to vacuum bleeding, gravity bleeding, or two person pump/bleed).... crossing fingers

[Scott Liggett]

Put a 1 1/8th master back on it.

Stupid question. Why no power steering?

[Mr4Speed]

Eliminate the booster and go manual?

[Deaf Bob]

We always remove the vac booster on our derby cars.. We have plates we made to bolt the MC to the booster's holes or studs..
Brakes work fine.. Think of it this way.. You have pints at the wheels and gallon at the MC.. Doesn't take much to fill pints from gallon.. but if you go to a "quart" MC, then you are using more of it to fill your pints.. Gallon being the larger piston MC..

If you went smaller MC, larger brake lines, you are going to have less responsive brakes..

[SuperBuickGuy]

Put a 1 1/8th master back on it.

Stupid question. Why no power steering?

because it's the manly thing to do

real reason - they're leakers, very bad leakers, GM did power assist on the Corvettes - so you can eliminate the power steering set up, replace the valve with a joint, and have a non-leaking system that transmits road feel a lot better. And manual steering isn't that terrible unless you're in a mall parking lot.