Residual pressure valve for rear brakes

[Sedanman]

Gary - you may or may not have hooked it up wrong - I was told at the time I did this swap that disc brakes take more pedal pressure to stop; It's been 5 years now (!) since I put the granada discs on, so it's hard to compare with the old tiny drums but it does take a fair amount of pressure to stop the car. I've never been able to get my rear brakes to lock up, and in panic situations my front brakes lock up (not good when you have this kind of loose steering!). These front brakes do seem to heat up (and make grinding noises) when I'm doing stop and go driving so I think they are over-working.

I can't remember which way I turned the prop. valve, in or out, but it's all the way one way or the other now. Either way, I tried it both ways and I think I left it at this setting as the front brakes were less touchy.

Patrick - regarding the various valves, it seems to me everyone who's talked about doing the granada swap over the years has said to use the factory combination valve/block, so that says to me that maybe there is not a residual valve in the older master cylinders (?) The guy at Speedway who sold me the valve suggesed I needed both the resid and metering valves when I ordered it and told him what car it was.

Just for clarification, I meant puting the resid valve in the rear brake circuit. So are you suggesting that I should install the metering valve instead? What parts did you use on your conversion? I rarely drive the car in the rain, but when I do it's white knuckle driving compared to my modern car and want it to be as safe as possible

I haven't pulled off my rear drums recently (have only driven the car a few hundred miles a year last two years), but after a couple thousand miles of use the rear shoes showed almost no wear. I guess I should go "play" with the prop valve some more before the car goes up on blocks for this and other (front end ) work...

T
PS - I'm using a Fox Mustang MS (an '83, I think) as that's what the store had and it was aluminum which I thought would be good for keeping rust at bay and save some lbs.

[pbrown]

Patrick - regarding the various valves, it seems to me everyone who's talked about doing the granada swap over the years has said to use the factory combination valve/block, so that says to me that maybe there is not a residual valve in the older master cylinders (?) The guy at Speedway who sold me the valve suggesed I needed both the resid and metering valves when I ordered it and told him what car it was.

The combination valve is both a metering and fixed proportioning valve. The residual pressure valve is built into the master. THe old fruit jars had them. You new aluminum master will have one for the rear if it is a disk/drum unit. A disk/disk unit will not andone would need to be added.

I'm using a new cast iron master with a 1" bore and a GM style combination valve.

[Sedanman]

So then theoretically, all I need to add is the metering valve...(?)

I'm wondering if maybe I have bad/clogged rear brake hose to the center section steel lines. I remember having a hell of a time bleeding the rear brakes, and since I'm not getting enough braking power to the back, that's the only thing I can think of as I bought a new one when I did the swap.

[pbrown]

Start with checking the rear lines. Maybe the hard line from the MC to the rear end T is crushed somewhere. Try connectinf a pressure gauge to the end of the flex hose and see how much pressure you get. You can expect in the area of 700-800 PSI. Maybemore if you've been working out .