brakes don't lock, (not that I want them to) Options

[r3dplanet]

Hi.

A couple of months ago another user (Bembry) posted that after replacing all of his brake parts he couldn't get his brakes to lock and his car's braking performance was pretty weak.

That thread ended without resolution and I didn't want to hijack that thread, so I'm starting my own.

A summer project that I wanted to nail down was dealing with the poor braking. The front calipers were messed up and the wheel bearings needed replacement. The rears were allegedly rebuilt by a local Porsche shop a year ago but I've been through two tanks of gas and the rears were leaking through the outer adjuster. So, I jacked up the car (or rather, left it on its jacks) and went to work, beginning with reading all that I could read about the braking system and experiences of other users.

I've just finished replacing older calipers with very nice front/rear rebuilt calipers, new rotors, new pads, new soft lines, new front and rear hard lines. I've bled and re-bled the system with ATE super blue fluid with a Motive pressure bleeder. I waited a few days and bled it again to achieve one tiny air spec and so I'm quite certain that's taken care of. The only thing I haven't touched is the master cylinder, regulator, and midship brake lines. The old fluid was ATE gold and it was very clean on its way out.

After all of this, the car stops exactly no better.

When I stomp on the brakes the car doesn't really stop the way it should and while I know that I don't want to lock up the brakes, I think I should have the option.

The parking brake cable has good feel and its adjusted for a tiny bit of slack at the calipers, so there's no drag.

The venting clearance on the rears are solid at .005 (the smallest gauge I have on any set) and I spent most of a Saturday making very sure of it.

I'm not driving the car because in a panic moment the car won't stop or slow well enough, especially at speed.

I'm stumped.

-marcus