Pedal feel not so great after five lug conversion.

[LarsD]

Hey guys, finally got my suspension/five lug done, and the pedal feel isn't that great. I did gt fronts and ranger drums in the rear, I've bled them about three times and I am getting clean fluid and no air. The car stops good, but the pedal feel is "squishy". After I bleed it, it feels good for the next stop or so, then it starts to feel the same again. Now I know the later brakes have about 21% more volume. Is there anything else I can try, or should I just live with it until I upgrade to Cobras (which won't be for a while).

Thanks

 

[tb9050lx]

Hey guys, finally got my suspension/five lug done, and the pedal feel isn't that great. I did gt fronts and ranger drums in the rear, I've bled them about three times and I am getting clean fluid and no air. The car stops good, but the pedal feel is "squishy". After I bleed it, it feels good for the next stop or so, then it starts to feel the same again. Now I know the later brakes have about 21% more volume. Is there anything else I can try, or should I just live with it until I upgrade to Cobras (which won't be for a while).

Thanks

what booster did you use ? also how is the adjustment on the rears ?

 

[LarsD]

what booster did you use ? also how is the adjustment on the rears ?

Stock Fox booster and MC. I adjusted the rears to slight drag then backed off a bit(this is how I've always done it and its been OK so far).

 

[Mustang5L5]

Which gt brakes?

How is the feel with the engine off? Pump the pedal a few times to bleed out vacuum. Pedal should get hard as a rock. If it is still a little squishy, younhave air.

Did you bench bleed the mc first?

 

[LarsD]

Which gt brakes?

How is the feel with the engine off? Pump the pedal a few times to bleed out vacuum. Pedal should get hard as a rock. If it is still a little squishy, younhave air.

Did you bench bleed the mc first?

I didn't bench it cause it never came off the car. The pedal feels great with the engine off, doesn't feel squishy at all. The fronts came off of a 97 GT.

 

[LarsD]

The pedal feel hasn't degraded any over the last 120 miles, I guess this is just how it is going to feel until I do the Cobra setup? Anybody think and adjustable prop valve could help me out?

 

[Mustang5L5]

A adjustable pv won't help with feel.

The 94-98 gt calipers are larger than stock, so they will feel softer than stock. Cobra fronts would actually be better since those calipers actually have a similar piston volume size to the oem calipers.

What is your final goal? Cobra front and rear?

 

[85_SS_302_Coupe]

Something i learned about bleeding brakes...is you're supposed to do them in a pattern going from the furthest away from the MC to the closest...so passenger rear, driver rear, passenger front, driver front. I had never done this before. I did the brakes on my Festiva and bleed them for over an hour and was getting solid fluid but still no pedal pressure...then someone told me to do this and bingo i was getting air and all is good now.

 

[Panoles1]

The pedal feel hasn't degraded any over the last 120 miles, I guess this is just how it is going to feel until I do the Cobra setup? Anybody think and adjustable prop valve could help me out?

You're going to have to change the MC to correct the issue. Try a 93 Cobra MC (it'll cost you a arm, leg and a nite with the wife) or a MC from a V6 SN95.

 

[LarsD]

A adjustable pv won't help with feel.

The 94-98 gt calipers are larger than stock, so they will feel softer than stock. Cobra fronts would actually be better since those calipers actually have a similar piston volume size to the oem calipers.

What is your final goal? Cobra front and rear?

Yeah Cobras. Didn't do it when I did the five lug b/c I was rebuilding the suspension at the same time, and I couldn't swing the extra $$.

Something i learned about bleeding brakes...is you're supposed to do them in a pattern going from the furthest away from the MC to the closest...so passenger rear, driver rear, passenger front, driver front. I had never done this before. I did the brakes on my Festiva and bleed them for over an hour and was getting solid fluid but still no pedal pressure...then someone told me to do this and bingo i was getting air and all is good now.

Yeah, this is how I've always bled brakes, car stops very well, just has very bad feedback through the pedal.

 

[Mustang5L5]

Yeah Cobras. Didn't do it when I did the five lug b/c I was rebuilding the suspension at the same time, and I couldn't swing pedal.

The feedback is due to the mc now being slight undersized

If you are doing cobra brakes, you'll want a 94-95 cobra mc if you use 94-98 cobra fronts and a 1993 cobra mc if you get 99-04 fronts.

Of course that assumes you use the larger booster as well.

 

[KENS89LX]

I practicall y have the same setup I didnt change the MC and my pedal is fine..,I would say that you still have air in them.

 

[LarsD]

The feedback is due to the mc now being slight undersized

If you are doing cobra brakes, you'll want a 94-95 cobra mc if you use 94-98 cobra fronts and a 1993 cobra mc if you get 99-04 fronts.

Of course that assumes you use the larger booster as well.

Yeah, a friend of mine and I were doing the math and realized that is was a pretty big difference. American Muscle has a kit that I plan to buy eventually, I think it is a 99+ style setup IIRC.

I practicall y have the same setup I didnt change the MC and my pedal is fine..,I would say that you still have air in them.

How similar is "practically"?

 

[Mustang5L5]

Yeah, a friend of mine and I were doing the math and realized that is was a pretty big difference. American Muscle has a kit that I plan to buy eventually, I think it is a 99+ style setup IIRC.

Yeah that's really all you can get new these days is the 99+ versions. I love my brakes with the 93 cobra mc. Feel is responsive and the pedal travel is not excessive.

Of course it's tough to tell you over the net your pedal feel is normal or not...but based on my experience, I would expect the pedal to be slightly spongy with a longer stroke. How much? Tough to say without me hitting the pedal myself.

But with the car off, if you can mash the pedal and not have it give any then good chance you bed it fairly well

 

[LarsD]

Yeah that's really all you can get new these days is the 99+ versions. I love my brakes with the 93 cobra mc. Feel is responsive and the pedal travel is not excessive.

Of course it's tough to tell you over the net your pedal feel is normal or not...but based on my experience, I would expect the pedal to be slightly spongy with a longer stroke. How much? Tough to say without me hitting the pedal myself.

But with the car off, if you can mash the pedal and not have it give any then good chance you bed it fairly well

Which that is exactly what I've got on my hands right now, spongy and long. Real hard with the engine off.