Pedal feel not so great after five lug conversion.

LarsD · Apr 28, 2010

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 · Apr 28, 2010

LarsD said:
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 · Apr 28, 2010

tb9050lx said:
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 · Apr 28, 2010

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 · Apr 28, 2010

Mustang5L5 said:
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 · Apr 30, 2010

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 · Apr 30, 2010

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 · Apr 30, 2010

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 · Apr 30, 2010

LarsD said:
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 · May 2, 2010

Mustang5L5 said:
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 $$.

85_SS_302_Coupe said:
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 · May 2, 2010

LarsD said:
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 · May 3, 2010

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 · May 3, 2010

Mustang5L5 said:
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.

my89blubyu said:
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 · May 3, 2010

LarsD said:
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 · May 3, 2010

Mustang5L5 said:
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.

Pedal feel not so great after five lug conversion.

LarsD

tb9050lx

Member

LarsD

Mustang5L5

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

LarsD

LarsD

Mustang5L5

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

85_SS_302_Coupe

it sucks (I know) to be on the receiving end

Panoles1

New Member

LarsD

Mustang5L5

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

KENS89LX

Member

LarsD

Mustang5L5

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

LarsD

Similar threads

Pedal feel not so great after five lug conversion.

Member

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

it sucks (I know) to be on the receiving end

New Member

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

Member

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell

Similar threads

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency