Barry Schwartz wrote on Thursday, April 27, 2000 9:17 AM:
>While it's admirable to want to upgrade braking, especially
>for safety
>reasons, I for one don't see why one would want to convert to a more
>complex system. ESPECIALLY one that in my own experience is
>shown to not
>work reliably. And one with THREE cylinders. Whew, just
>something else to
>leak!
>Seriously, I've had a couple of failures of the tandem
>master system and In
>EVERY case the pedal went to the floor. No reserve braking,
>no half pedal,
>just complete loss of braking (thank god for the parking
>brake, however
>limited it is in braking force)
Barry,
I've missed the beginning of this thread and apologize in advance it we are
not talking about a dual master cylinder as on a 68 Spit.
I had the misfortune to lose the brakes at 60-65mph just as I was coming up
on a stopped line of cars at a drawbridge. This was due to a break in the
metal line to the right front brakes. The pedal did go to the floor. From
what I remember pumping the brake pedal quickly did give some reduced
braking at the rear. By also downshifting I was able to slow down enough to
pull off on the shoulder and use the emergency to completely stop. I'm not
sure what would have happened in the event of master cylinder failure, but
in my case it did seem to provide some stopping power.
This is based on memory of something that occurred roughly 25 years ago, so
I certainly may be wrong (just ask my wife :-) ).
I would advise keeping the emergency brake adjusted. That was easily the 2nd
most exciting event that happened to me while my Spitfire was still on the
road!
TIFN
Larry Griffin
lgriffin@prodigy.net
68 Spitfire (under tarps for now)
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