320i brakes in front and now..., The rears feel undersized Options

[banderson]

I did the standard conversion to 320i front calipers and removed the proportioning valve last summer and now I think that I may have increased the stopping distance. The rears don’t feel like they are working hard enough. I overhauled the system with new rotors, rear caliper rebuild kits, DOT SS lines and street pads.

Because my front brake pistons are bigger, it takes less effort to lock the front wheels than it did before. Now the front wheels lock well before the rears come close.

I havn’t heard of anyone complaining about this before and Grassroots motorsports reported that they needed an adjustable valve to keep there rears from locking. This makes me wonder if my rears are working properly. They get hot, so I know they are doing something. The pedal is solid and they don’t bind.

I am considering changing to a high performance street pad, or putting different ones on the back, but I don’t want them to grab too much.

Your thoughts?

[Eric_Shea]

I would like to see pics if you have them of your 911 ebrake conversion

Craig, you can check out my 911 e-brake conversion here.

It's fairly simple. I'll be using 911 cables and a center mounted hand brake ala the rally GT's. I should be welding in that area soon. Rich's new 6 mount is in the mail.

Regarding this thread. IMHO, it's hard to beat a stock 914 brake set up if it's "set-up". A good rebuild on stock calipers with awesome pads should be more than enough to keep a 914 out braking most anything out there. Anything beyond that and I'd use a "system-wide" approach, meaning; upsizing/vented rotors etc. I'm planning for 220hp out of a 2.5 six. I chose S-Calipers on Koni struts up front and 911 rear M-calipers all with a "T" fitting and vented rotors. Worked well on 911's up to 260hp (76 Turbo) and beyond. Weight transfer is a bit different so I'm waiting to see if I'll need a adjustable bias control. I doubt it though...

That being said, I'd tighten up the rears. Maybe try a different pad back there (softer compound) and make certain you do a two-man bleed job. Have someone in the cockpit doing a 1,2,3,4 hard pump and hold. I realise there's no proportioning valve back there to worry about but I still think this method is a good one. Maybe Herb would help you (but then he might not be able to out brake you any more...) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif) Release the rear pressure and repeat until you're sure they're blead clean. Herb's right... pedal should be H-A-R-D.