My Brakes are FINALLY fixed!!

[mpro69rr]

I was having problems with my brakes when I switched to power disc front and drum back on my 69 RR just like a lot of people on this forum that I read about. My pedal kept going to the floor and I would come to a long rolling stop. I did everything to try and fix this, bled the lines at least 10 times and checked for leaks 3-4 times etc.. I had one of those GM MC on and decided to buy the cheap $95 one from pirate jacks, thought to myself this will fix it! Well it didn't it was a little worse and I couldn't get the cap to stop leaking. I read everything on this forum to try and fix it but no go.
I had bought my disc brakes and wilwood calipers from Dr Diff, who was great. I also bought from him a brake block with a proportioning valve built in. I thought to myself that I have quality brake parts on my RR maybe I should have a quality MC instead of cheap piece of crap. I looked at wilwood and found they make a MC for mopars with the four holes but it was expensive. After thinking about it I decided to spend the $350 for the wilwood MC 1 1/8". I installed it yesterday after I bench bled, and also made sure the push rod in the booster was set correctly, which was so easy, it went great. I still need to bleed the brakes but decided to take it for a ride anyway and WOW, What a difference! It had a hard pedal and I could lock them up. Its only going to get better when I bleed them. I spent many weekends trying to get this brake system to work and all it took was QUALITY parts! Wilwood has a great MC and it doesn't leak, looks and works great. For all the people having brake issues you may want to consider this wilwood MC. I got mine from summit so I could return it if it didn't work. Big lesson learned! Now on to my rear main seal leak and I won't cheap out!

 

[davek]

glad you got it fixed

 

[dadsbee]

Works well with the MP rocker covers!

 

[Ron H]

Having had some endless hassles doing the brake conversion on mine, know the frustration you went through. Glad to hear you have brakes.

 

[Bird 426]

So, you ditched the stock distribution block and replumbed that area. Now have the adjustable proportioning valve from Willwood? Did you have to change the pedal to MC pushrod?

 

[mpro69rr]

So, you ditched the stock distribution block and replumbed that area. Now have the adjustable proportioning valve from Willwood? Did you have to change the pedal to MC pushrod?

No, the distribution block is a combination block/proportioning valve, it isn't adjustable. I think the 70's b-bodys had something like it. No I didn't have to change the pedal to a MC push rod. Used the one from my bendix brake booster.

 

[Bird 426]

Okay, so you just replaced the MC, and have the stock distribution block.
Thank you for answering.

 

[mpro69rr]

Okay, so you just replaced the MC, and have the stock distribution block.
Thank you for answering.

No, I did replace the original distribution block, the original didn't have the combo proportioning valve. The one I replaced it with is a combo block/proportioning valve. This is why I didn't need a separate proportioning valve.

 

[Kern Dog]

Sometimes in the quest for braking ability better than stock, we go down a L-O-N-G path that sometimes never results in a complete success.
It seems like if we simply duplicate a stock power disc/drum setup, it should result in similar performance as an original model. Sadly, with the wide variance in quality of manufacturing, you just don't know of the quality of the parts. Sometimes a name brand (with an excellent reputation) has gone the way of Chinesium like MOOG and Craftsman tools.
Chinese stuff isn't always junk but it sure seems to be more likely than American made stuff from 30 years ago.
I've had a long and windy road in my '70 Charger trying to get the brakes to be impressive to me. I tried a long list of parts and arrangements with only a few of them being "good enough for now". I adopted an opinion that the brakes need to meet or exceed the power level and that a classic car should be made to stop as well as a newer car.
Goal set, goal met.

 

[Ron H]

Moving from manual to power disk (front) seemed to be my biggest hassle. The problems encountered defied some logic to me, questioning that, but it did a car buddy too throughout the ordeal. Reflecting on the luxury of having do-overs, I would have bought a different kit; but one of those projects one has invested in that gets deeper and deeper with hard-headed thoughts of I can’t stop now.

Kind of like Thanksgiving a few years ago when one of my daughters was so busy peeling potatoes…stuffing those down the garbage disposal…then a yell to dad “Hey the sink’s flooded!” Yeah, disconnect the drain pipe running an industrial size snake I have through it, nope. Go in the basement and saw off the first elbow (all PVC) run the snake through it, nope. Go 15’ to the next elbow, cut that run the snake, eff nope. Damn, thought for sure I went through the plug a few times as could hear the snake make the bend – at the – next elbow another 15-feet down. My initial thoughts were call a plumber. But holiday weekend. So cut that elbow out and found this yellow gel-like blockage. Poked my screwdriver through it easy enough and be damned hey, the hole sealed back up! WTH? Stabbed it several times and just resealed like nothing ever disturbed it. No marks! Alien life-form? No wonder the snake went through it again and again and just stayed put. Next day to Home Depot to get the new piping and reinstall.

I’ve digressed here, BUT this reminded me of the brake conversion, lol.