Anyone every convert to manual brakes?
I have a project car and basically will be replacing the whole system. I was looking at a manual brake setup. Is it comfortable for street and even some road track driving?
Older car doesn’t have abs, just looking at some options.
Yes I know I need a master/caliper/proportioning valve al configured to be compatible.
My brake booster just went on my C4 Corvette, and while the car can stop, shit’s nerve-wracking. I couldn’t imagine doing it on purpose.
That is different, aftermarket masters provide more pressures. It is not the same as a failed brake booster setup, that sounds horrible.
That’ s because your Corvette isn’t meant for manual braking. You’re telling me that something failed in your braking system and your brakes aren’t s effective? 🤯
I genuinely just want to know what has inspired you to have an interest in doing this.
So many comments from clueless people on here. A well designed manual braking system works great and is superior to many stock assisted systems.
I have switched to manual brakes/ deleted ABS on my E36. I wasn’t happy with the vagueness and non-linear feel of the stock braking system before, and wanted to get better feel and modulation.
I deleted my ABS box (15lbs), added a 7:1 pedal box, 2 Tilton Master cylinders (very important for redundancy, and to not loose all braking if you have a leak. Don’t use single MC for the whole system), Tilton balance bar to adjust F/R braking ratio (proportional valves aren’t linear and are a band-aid fix). You will need to run more aggressive pads as well.
The hardest part was sizing up the master cylinders, and determining how aggressive of a brake pad I would need. I had to take into consideration out how much braking force I was comfortable doing to lock up the tires (with my weaker left leg, for left foot braking in my case), the friction coefficient of my tires, the friction coefficient of the brake pads, size of the caliper piston. All of that to determine a max brake line working pressure (around 1500PSI). Once everything was it, the system worked surprisingly well on the first drive.
My braking is VERY linear now, with excellent modulation. It takes a little more pedal effort, and time to get used to, but I absolutely love the direct analog feel. It takes around 70lbs of pedal pressure to lock up the tires. I’ve autoX with it, daily driven, driven in low traction snow/ice scenarios. 0 complaints. I have it adjusted for my front wheels to lock up slightly before my rear. I did put a few flat spots threshold braking. I don’t think you can outdo a competent ABS. But this teaches you to be better with your braking inputs, instead of mashing the pedal and letting the computer figure out the rest. Manual brakes aren’t for everyone, but they work great if your system is well designed.
Here’s Superfast Matt’s video on retrofitting an electric brake booster, in case difficulty was your concern.
I have ever only tracked one car without power brakes and hated it. It was a thunder roadster and it was set up right, but it had a wide brake pedal because it damn well needed it. The manual brakes were one of the reasons I didn’t buy the car.
Unless your project car is an 850lb single seat formula car I would suggest some form of power brakes. I don’t even like stopping a 2,000lb Miata without power assist if I have to do it more than a couple of times.