Chris and Alpiners,
I have a series II, which of course does not have the booster.
And yes, I have the small diameter master cyl.
With all of the hydrollics in great shape, and even new (stock) brake
parts all the way around the car, the car could NEVER lock up all 4
wheels.
The rears could lock with a ton of pressure, but no deal on the fronts.
Forget the fact that I could'nt lock the tires, in my opinion, the
brakes could
have done a much better job stopping the car even without lockup.
The asbestos pads would get brutally hot, and even heat checked my
rotors.
My solution was to turn the rotors, and to purchase a set of metalic
pads
from a Datsun 260Z.
The 260Z pads require a bunch of mods to make them fit a series 1 to 2,
and
slightly less modification to function on the 3,4 and 5s. The importance
of buying
the Datsun pads was that I could get them NOW at an auto parts store for
$17.
BTW (Series 3,4 and 5 people), I am sure there is a better way to go for
good
pads with your vehicles than to buy the Datsun pads, that wont require
the
mods. The Series 1 and 2 pads are shaped entirely different, and there
is
simply no alternative then to make your own.
The car stops amazingly fast now, and can lock up all 4 wheels even with
really sticky tires on the car.
Although the rear brakes seam adequate, I think the alpine (and tiger)
have
too little surface area on the front pads, for the vehicle weight. The
only way
that I could rectify this problem, was to put on some pads with more
bite, and
better thermal properties.
Jarrid Gross
From: Chris S. Mottram(at)ECCI on 05/14/97 10:25 PM
My Series 5 Alpine came with out the brake booster. The pedal is very
firm. No matter how hard I push on the pedal, I can't come to an panic
stop (aka lock up the brakes). Now I realize that many new cars come
with
this feature and charge quite a bit for it, I would feel more
comfortable
if I knew I could at least try to come to a screeching halt before I
rear
end somebody!
Should I be able to lock the brakes without the booster? I really don't
want to add one back.
Thanks,
Chris
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