warning about ford rear calipers....

[Dingy]

Having crashed my car recently i have been doing some research.

Basically i crashed my car in this circumstance.

Front locked under braking in wet, i came off and went back on to stop back locked up and it stepped out into on coming traffic.

SO...

If you have a bias pedal box and ford rear brakes and this happens to you, it will have the same effect.

Basically the ford rear brakes are so shit, the piston takes about 5 times longer to lift off the disc, thus when you stamp on them again they bite as they aint had time to free off.

I aint sure about if you have a servo fitted, but if you don't it will be the same as this.

[Banishit]

wanted to read it but dont have any so ?

but thanks for the info

? why has this problem not come to light with all the other that have used this set up for years?

Brian

[paul spence]

Dingy,you aint got ford rear calipers!
Ive never had any problems.

[dasadrew]

Didn't know "Ford" did rear callipers on a MkII.

I know some people put Fiesta, Sierra or Granada Front calipers on the rear, but then they restrict the flow to avoid over-braking, don't they?

I think there used to be an "official" Ford conversion for Rallye which was designed to be able to get the rear end to step out in rallying hairpins, wasn't it?

[robrs2]

Dingy, Had the same thing happen to me, But no crash . I found out that the bias box was setup wrong (my fault) But also with the bias box you can take advantage of the adjustments and have wet or dry set ups. Oh and that was with drums on the back, Disks to be fitted soon. Stuff concours mod mod mod.
Oh anyone else had their car for more than 15years??

[dasadrew]

Bought 22.03.1985 - now on second restoration!

[lee bishop]

desadrew, which car is actually yours? as your signature sports quite a few??

[dasadrew]

Centre of picture, the two RS above one another are the same one. Originally Signal Orange, a previous owner painted it white. The first resto was centred around changing it to Signal Yellow as that was my favourite colour at that time. I'm now on second resto and have decided to go back to bare metal and restore it to original Signal Orange and with vinyl roof.

Thanks for the interest!

[RS2000CUSTOM]

I think there used to be an "official" Ford conversion for Rallye which was designed to be able to get the rear end to step out in rallying hairpins,

On my car its called the handbrake lever

btw : Took me ages on a quiet industrial estate to get the front / rear bias valve set-up.

Now all I do is very minor adjustments to suit the conditions for the days "tracking".

My own preference is rear tyres just starting to squeal as they get ready to lock up - but dont let them lock

Now I can stamp on the pedal and the rears work perfectly for me !

I use standard Ford rear calipers (non-vented Sierra type + Rally Design ally brackets + Peugeot 405 X-drilled discs) and I have the mechanical handbrake connected.

[Dingy]

As i am surprisingly not banned from this site.

I have had ap's on the rear, and have ap's on the front.

The pedal box is setup correctly, its just the bias box can't pull the pistons off the disc as fast as the ap's in the front.

Ford rear calipers came on lots of cars, not mk2's tho.

Been out doing more tests today, some conclusion...

They are simply no good for a car that needs brakes, maybe cossie powered cars aer extreme examples but its still a bit shite.

Going to order my self some GRP 4 hubs for the rear and use my ap's.

[RS2000CUSTOM]

As well as the pedal returning to its "off" position the brakes are "turned off" by the seals in the calipers returning to their original shape.

A caliper is self adjusting because the seals can only "pull" the piston so far back in its cylinder.

[Dermot]

Centre of picture, the two RS above one another are the same one. Originally Signal Orange, a previous owner painted it white. The first resto was centred around changing it to Signal Yellow as that was my favourite colour at that time. I'm now on second resto and have decided to go back to bare metal and restore it to original Signal Orange and with vinyl roof.

Thanks for the interest!

Signal Orange rocks

[dasadrew]

Yeah, it's ok! I sort of got turned back on to orange when I drove past an Opel Speedster in orange on my way to work each day!

Unfortunately, mine will be Signal Orange 77 which is not the really vivid orange, but at least it's not Signal Orange 76 which was really a bit too tepid for me.

[Mex 1t]

dasadrew you must watch out for the m8 as he will be watching with intrest in paint codes and part no`s

[dasadrew]

So it's paint codes at dawn then?

Someone will have to explain what this GIMP business is all about sometime - at the moment I haven't got a clue! Must get out more.