Squishy

[Fozzie]

I've had an ever increasing difficulty dialing in my brakes.

Seems no matter what I do the top half of the pedal is squishy.

I've bleed and bleed the brakes, not sure if I should pull the master and re bleed it.

It's a Belair with a Dutchman/willwood 4 piston front conversion.

I may also not be creating enough vacuum, as the cam makes the idle pretty lumpy.

Considering pulling the vacuum booster and going to manual, can't decide if I'll need a new master.

And or the advantages over manual vrs power.

I eventually will do some auto crossing with it and heavy river road use.

Just trying decide my next move, any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

[Sieg]

You need to measure vacuum.

Sounds like trapped air though.

High spots (low-high-low) trap air, caliper mounting, bleed position, and line routing could contribute.

I'm a manual master fan, mainly due to motorcycling background. I prefer the feel/feedback and simplicity.

[Fozzie]

Thanks! I'll definitely get back in there and see if I can find any more air.
I like the feel of manual brakes, just never done on a car as large as my '55, mostly old bugs.

Can I pull the booster and remount my master to make it manual?

Or would I need a different master cylinder?

It gets a lot of street/day to day traffic use also

[Sieg]

Thanks! I'll definitely get back in there and see if I can find any more air.
I like the feel of manual brakes, just never done on a car as large as my '55, mostly old bugs.

Can I pull the booster and remount my master to make it manual?

Or would I need a different master cylinder?

It gets a lot of street/day to day traffic use also
I'd go with a Wilwood manual master, probably 7/8" bore, but you need to run the numbers (caliper volume) to determine. Give Tobin at Kore3.com a call, he'll deliver accurate and honest solutions.

FWIW - My car is 3460 lbs with 245/275 200TW tires. C5/12.88"/Hawk HP+ pads front and Dynalite/11"/BP20 pads rear and feel they are 'respectable' brakes, I've driven a C7 Z51 relatively hard and was very impressed with the brakes though they didn't demoralize my perception of my system.