Ted Brown
Member
"Whoa Power" testing is a MUST...
While test driving Her naked, (this is an second add on to a blog I did about test driving your T Naked without/before any primer or paint) the brakes are an area that need very close/hard testing & adjustment... With a car that is almost backwards to a normal car, in other words, most of the cars static weight is on the rear, also the bigger tires, so you want those big tires to do most of the work, not the fronts like a stock car...
Find a nice quiet paved roadway or parking lot, bring a Friend, let them out and have them watch just how and what your car tires do when you try panic stops... Step off the tire marks you leave during your test stops... Adjust the rear brake pressure to make the rear brakes do most of the normal stopping, as they have the most grip and leverage.. well with tall tires it takes more brake leverage/pressure, to get them to lock up also..
What you are striving for is a fairly straight line tire tracks on the pavement (all 4 tires squealing because they are not turning) Do this from a 30 mile an hour driving speed... Try this as you have it set now, then set either the balance bar, or the proportioning valve to achieve this goal... If for some reason you can not lock up the tires, changes need/ MUST be made so you can lock up all 4 tires at anytime...
Say the brake pedal is hard to push to get the car to stop fast, you either need a longer top portion added to your pedal, (by just making a taller, pedal pad, that bolts on, will work without having to fab a totally new pedal) or a shorter lower (to the master cyl.) portion, (at times a new pivot hole will do the trick) this will increase your pedal ratio, I would say 8 to 1 would be the least you want with drum brakes, and as close to 12 to 1 with all 4 disk brakes... A combo of braking, somewhere in the middle) you can also go to a smaller bore master cyl. (or cyls.) to increase pressure and lower the power it takes your leg to push that pedal to achieve full 4 wheel lockups... (I use a 5/8" cyl. for the disks and 7/8" for the drums) NOTE: You can go to bigger wheel cyls. even if you have to change the hole pattern in some cases, this will give the same affect as power brakes when you get all the leverages correct...
When you get this right, you should be totally stopped in a few car lengths, (very few) you will think it is going to throw you right out of the car, or tear off your windshield.. hehe You will be totally surprised as to just how quick She will stop when correct...
Another must! it is imperative that you use the same size tires you will be running when finished, because the leverage changes quite a large amount with tire size changes, so does the rear gear ratio...
When testing my own T Bucket, She left such a dark mark and a lot of rubber on the street when locking up the brakes, I thought I was going to end up with flat spots on my tires.. As a matter of fact, when you are totally Happy with how your chassis is working, and you may have to do this even before that happens, is to have all your tires trued (they cut each tire and make them the same exact size (both rears & both fronts) this may also determine how well the chassis works leaving the starting gate under full pedal starts, (in a straight line, or all over the place) or even under full pedal from normal driving speeds...
Ford made a sports car (Pantara) that was so evil handling/driving without truing the rear tires it was unreal. It took a while to find out that this was the cause... (uneven tire size) With a light weight, over powered chassis, this is very important...
GREAT Steering and Brakes are a MUST with any over powered car especially... Hell they are a must with any car anytime.. hehe Easy steering and an easy stopping car make for a real pleasure to drive, well if it does not ride like a buck board that is, plus, if it rides like a brick, it will not be comfortable to drive for very long... You will want to get out to stretch your legs and back & get the blood going again, way too often...
Good luck with your driving Her naked, testing and changes will make for a super comfortable and safe driving car...
Now go home and decide what you really want painted and what you want to see and what you do not want to see, this will determine what will be painted and what color and what should be chromed or painted a different color... if you don't want to see it, paint it Satin Black, it will disappear that way.... This is what I did to all my customers cars that were in running condition, or if they were to finish Her up and get Her running, then this is what they must do on their own...
Have a fun time and Happy driving... Ted Brown
While test driving Her naked, (this is an second add on to a blog I did about test driving your T Naked without/before any primer or paint) the brakes are an area that need very close/hard testing & adjustment... With a car that is almost backwards to a normal car, in other words, most of the cars static weight is on the rear, also the bigger tires, so you want those big tires to do most of the work, not the fronts like a stock car...
Find a nice quiet paved roadway or parking lot, bring a Friend, let them out and have them watch just how and what your car tires do when you try panic stops... Step off the tire marks you leave during your test stops... Adjust the rear brake pressure to make the rear brakes do most of the normal stopping, as they have the most grip and leverage.. well with tall tires it takes more brake leverage/pressure, to get them to lock up also..
What you are striving for is a fairly straight line tire tracks on the pavement (all 4 tires squealing because they are not turning) Do this from a 30 mile an hour driving speed... Try this as you have it set now, then set either the balance bar, or the proportioning valve to achieve this goal... If for some reason you can not lock up the tires, changes need/ MUST be made so you can lock up all 4 tires at anytime...
Say the brake pedal is hard to push to get the car to stop fast, you either need a longer top portion added to your pedal, (by just making a taller, pedal pad, that bolts on, will work without having to fab a totally new pedal) or a shorter lower (to the master cyl.) portion, (at times a new pivot hole will do the trick) this will increase your pedal ratio, I would say 8 to 1 would be the least you want with drum brakes, and as close to 12 to 1 with all 4 disk brakes... A combo of braking, somewhere in the middle) you can also go to a smaller bore master cyl. (or cyls.) to increase pressure and lower the power it takes your leg to push that pedal to achieve full 4 wheel lockups... (I use a 5/8" cyl. for the disks and 7/8" for the drums) NOTE: You can go to bigger wheel cyls. even if you have to change the hole pattern in some cases, this will give the same affect as power brakes when you get all the leverages correct...
When you get this right, you should be totally stopped in a few car lengths, (very few) you will think it is going to throw you right out of the car, or tear off your windshield.. hehe You will be totally surprised as to just how quick She will stop when correct...
Another must! it is imperative that you use the same size tires you will be running when finished, because the leverage changes quite a large amount with tire size changes, so does the rear gear ratio...
When testing my own T Bucket, She left such a dark mark and a lot of rubber on the street when locking up the brakes, I thought I was going to end up with flat spots on my tires.. As a matter of fact, when you are totally Happy with how your chassis is working, and you may have to do this even before that happens, is to have all your tires trued (they cut each tire and make them the same exact size (both rears & both fronts) this may also determine how well the chassis works leaving the starting gate under full pedal starts, (in a straight line, or all over the place) or even under full pedal from normal driving speeds...
Ford made a sports car (Pantara) that was so evil handling/driving without truing the rear tires it was unreal. It took a while to find out that this was the cause... (uneven tire size) With a light weight, over powered chassis, this is very important...
GREAT Steering and Brakes are a MUST with any over powered car especially... Hell they are a must with any car anytime.. hehe Easy steering and an easy stopping car make for a real pleasure to drive, well if it does not ride like a buck board that is, plus, if it rides like a brick, it will not be comfortable to drive for very long... You will want to get out to stretch your legs and back & get the blood going again, way too often...
Good luck with your driving Her naked, testing and changes will make for a super comfortable and safe driving car...
Now go home and decide what you really want painted and what you want to see and what you do not want to see, this will determine what will be painted and what color and what should be chromed or painted a different color... if you don't want to see it, paint it Satin Black, it will disappear that way.... This is what I did to all my customers cars that were in running condition, or if they were to finish Her up and get Her running, then this is what they must do on their own...
Have a fun time and Happy driving... Ted Brown
