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Re: [Fot] Getting front and rear brakes working together

To: fot@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Fot] Getting front and rear brakes working together
From: Jim Norlin <norlinengineering@comcast.net>
Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2011 00:00:31 -0700
I'm assuming we're talking race car with a balance bar between two 
master cylinders.  When I used to work on Formula Fords we would lift 
the car off the ground and make an adjustable device that pushed on the 
brake pedal.  We would adjust that so that the brakes dragged 
significantly but didn't lock up.  Then, we would adjust the bias bar so 
that turning the front and rear wheels felt pretty much the same.  After 
that, it was up to the driver.  These cars have 4 wheel discs and about 
35% weight on the front and 65% on the rear so under braking with the 
forward weight transfer, they are about 50-50 and this technique works.

I tried doing the same thing with my Spitfire and found it moved the 
bias way too far to the back.  Because of the weight balance  and weight 
transfer under braking, this technique won't work on our cars.  One 
thing I noticed was I was wearing out rear brakes way faster than the 
fronts and having to adjust them a lot.  I've since moved the balance 
bar a lot farther to the front and balanced the wear front to rear.  I 
think watching wear patterns is a good check.

If you can find a straight test location, you want to get the fronts to 
lock up slightly before the rears.  On my Spitfire (with rear drums), I 
don't think it is possible to get the rears to lock up first.

Jim Norlin

On 7/17/2011 7:43 PM, sherry robyn wrote:
> On a TR6, I was wondering the best way to be sure that I am getting the
> appropriate braking from my front and rear brakes and especially so my rear
> brakes aren't taking a free ride.  Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.
> Jim in Folsom, CA
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