[DeTomaso] Mushy brakes

[Rick]

Will Kooiman wrote:
> The biggest improvements I made to my brakes were:
> 
> 1. Bleeding both screws in the front calipers.  I missed the lower screw for
> the first year I had the car.  I lot of orange gunk came out on the first
> bleed.
> 2. Good pads (I have Porterfield r4s)
> 3. braided stainless brake lines at all 4 wheels - they made a noticeable
> difference in the hardness of the pedal
> 4. Removing the proportioning valve - you can switch to a gutted valve if
> you want the stock look.  I was going to add an adjustable prop valve, but I
> didn't need it.  No prop valve was just right.  I removed the shuttle valve
> at the same time, but I think removing the prop valve did the trick - not
> the shuttle valve. 
> 
> Each of these made a noticeable difference in my brakes.  I was very
> unimpressed with my brakes when I got my car. 

   I did all of this except I left the shuttle valve in for safety. And 
all made a noticeable difference.  Lastly (when I had the front rotors 
off to repack the bearings and drill out the spindle for a castle nut 
and cotter pin), I did the one thing that really made the most 
difference.  I bled the front calipers with the bleed screws pointing 
straight up, no air from the top screw but big gob of air from both 
lower bleed screws.  I had bled them over time probably 3 or 4 times 
with no air from any of the screws.
   Drove the car, tried the brakes and almost hit my face on the 
steering wheel, best improvement ever.
Rick
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