'69 Cuda Poor braking
This is a '69 340 Barracuda fastback with stock power (Midland Ross Booster) front disk brakes (Kelsey Hays). The car originally came with manual front drums and was converted by a previous owner. Ever since I got the car, the braking performance was not very good and the pedal was very hard. I could never lock up the wheels. I've swapped MC's, checked the push rod length, had the booster overhauled, overhauled the calipers and tried different pads (now have EBC "Red Stuff" pads) . I've tried both the stock 1" MC as well as a 15/16" unit. I recently checked the actual hydraulic pressures at the MC and at the calipers and could only get ~500 psi with moderate pedal pressure. Pushing extremely hard, I could only get ~1000 psi. These are low pressures.
Then I realized that the stock power setup has a bracket adapter with linkage that effectively reduces the force thru the booster by 1/2 compared to a non power setup. I removed it and reconfigured for manual brakes and now have twice the pressures!! I'm sure this will give me far better braking but I'm left wondering why the supposed stock power system worked so poorly????? Any other Cuda owners having this problem??
Jim
This is a '69 340 Barracuda fastback with stock power (Midland Ross Booster) front disk brakes (Kelsey Hays). The car originally came with manual front drums and was converted by a previous owner. Ever since I got the car, the braking performance was not very good and the pedal was very hard. I could never lock up the wheels. I've swapped MC's, checked the push rod length, had the booster overhauled, overhauled the calipers and tried different pads (now have EBC "Red Stuff" pads) . I've tried both the stock 1" MC as well as a 15/16" unit. I recently checked the actual hydraulic pressures at the MC and at the calipers and could only get ~500 psi with moderate pedal pressure. Pushing extremely hard, I could only get ~1000 psi. These are low pressures.
Then I realized that the stock power setup has a bracket adapter with linkage that effectively reduces the force thru the booster by 1/2 compared to a non power setup. I removed it and reconfigured for manual brakes and now have twice the pressures!! I'm sure this will give me far better braking but I'm left wondering why the supposed stock power system worked so poorly????? Any other Cuda owners having this problem??
Jim
