[Shotimes] Re: Brake bias plugs

[Ron Porter]

Ahh...but that's also with Wilwoods....

I ran the "rare green car with the stock '95 brakes through the winter, then
I did the '96 upgrade sometime in the Spring (don't remember if we had more
snow after that or not).

I will amend my statements to "stock-type brakes". Although, if it took a
130+ downhill run with Wilwoods to show it up, this is something that
99.9999% of SHO owners will never need to worry about!!

Ron Porter



-----Original Message-----
From: Mark Nunnally [mailto:marknunnally@JoiMail.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, December 27, 2005 9:41 PM
To: Ron Porter; 'Rich Bruso'; shotimes@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Shotimes] Re: Brake bias plugs

> The pure rumor that the bias plugs are bad for a non-ABS '89 is purely
> that.....a rumor, and not based on anyone really trying it. AFAIK, I am
the
> only one who has actually tried this, and it has NO effect on the brake
> operation.

Although I didn't put plugs in the old 89, I did pull the hardware off, left
the pivot rod in place, cut M6x1.0 threads on it with a die, and used a
washer and 2 locknuts to open the OEM valves, IOW, same as putting in
"plugs" (which I have on my ABS 92 btw, works great).

I tried the above on the old 89 at road atlanta probably a year ago, simply
to try to get a little more bite in the rear brakes (my rear brake temps
used to be pretty low on that car).

Some of the slower speed corners where it's just a quick on/off it was fine.
Down the hill at the end of the backstretch at threshold braking at 130+ (a
reasonable about of pedal effort due to the somewhat long pedal BSL wilwood
calipers and race rubber).  More pedal = more pressure in the system, and
likewise to the rear.  Drove in deep like always, hit my mark, threshold
brake, lock the rears, had to chase the car off the track to the inside
wall.  Last I saw were corner works and spectators coming right at me,
diving behind the wall!  Somehow the car stayed off the wall (I won't take
credit for it) I got it back on the track and just aborted to the pea gravel
at that point (too late for anything else).  I'd say I was within the 1"
range of putting the RR into the inside wall, I was expecting "the jolt" at
any sec.  A near miss and a pretty long 1 way conversation with the panoz
race school head instructor after...

The BSL's tend to have a long pedal and like to have higher effort, much
more than even like a 94-96 front caliper.  The result is more pressure
overall in the system, and more to the rear.  You may not have a real
problem with it with more brake torque in the front (larger dia rotors, real
grippy pads, stiff calipers, etc) but it's at least possible.  You can
negate some of this by using less grippy pads in the rear, etc.  But I'd at
least be careful of it, and I'm not sure I'd recommend it.  At least on the
track, if you are braking as late as you can, and your rears lock, there's
not much you can do other than just pull off and enjoy the wildlife.

mark