The Desoto has finally worn out its OEM 78 Fury brake pads.

The oem rotors look fine and will just get a scuff .

The Explorer rear discs are 75% on new pads.

The original pads (used) were hard as rocks. I put 30 000 hard miles on them .

Whats a good pad for the next 30 000?


Supplementary question Mr Speaker:

I cant stop my car rolling without the brake booster. So instead of just turning my car off at the Nogales border crossing (or Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal) and letting it roll forward when the traffic allows....I have to start the car. That gets nerve wracking after the first hour .

I want to be able to stop the car even with the engine off.

I am currently using a GM 1 1/4" aluminum master . The pedal is a little stiff even with the GM booster.

My total caliper piston area is 10.9 sq/in

Would an aluminum 1.03 M body master make more sense?

_________________
Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

What is the car weight?

That MC sounds like it should work fine to me, w/no booster. However, modern folks who are used to super assist brakes may not like it as much. Do you have an adj prop valve? That is good for lowering pedal effort and balancing bias.

I hate the parts store pads for OEM Mopar calipers these days. Are those the same pads as the little 10.7" single piston Mopars? In any case, we just ran a road race with a 2800 lb car (sans driver) with the stock pads (yuck) on 10.7" brakes, and then switched to EBC Yellowstuff and it was much better (less effort, stronger braking). Manual master like the one you are considering. With the bigger diameter discs, you should have more advantage, but also a heavier car - might be a wash. EBC can take your pad backing plates and put a number of compounds on those. I can't say about longevity, but they can likely advise if you call them. Not sure of other companies because I have all Wilwood calipers on my cars.

Hope this helps, but is maybe only a start...

Lou

_________________
Home of Slant6-powered fun machines

The car weighs 4500 lbs in touring form and is surprisingly well balanced.

I have a prop valve but I have it dialed for maximum rear brakes. The rear pads wear faster . The rear tires are 30.5" diameter . ....quite a lot more leverage than the smaller fronts.

The car is a star on long steep grades. No sign of fade or rotor warping on either end.

EBC has only Greenstuff pads available for pin slider calipers.

_________________
Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

I bet the EBC Greenstuff would be better suited to your application than Yellowstuff. That's likely what I would try. I have driven 3 disc brake Darts with parts store crap pads and they are no fun at all and very high effort. I would have to guess the Greenstuffs are better.

I have had my 68 Dart at over 4500 lbs loaded wt and was comfortable with the braking effort with 11.75" discs. Note these are Wilwood Dynalite calipers w/4 pistons of 1.75" diam, but it should be roughly comparable. I calculate 9.6 sq in piston area as compared to your 10.9 sq in area.

Lou

_________________
Home of Slant6-powered fun machines

I just found a new listing that has EBC Green , red and yellow.

I think the red might be the best for my application.

My 10.9 sq/in includes the rear calipers 4.9

the fronts are 6 sq"

Oh, that is very different piston area. I am quoting one single front caliper. So, lots more mechanical advantage there. Note that 9.6" for a 4 piston (fixed) caliper is equivalent to 1/2 that for a floating (1 piston) caliper, so you have 6 sq in for the fronts and I have 9.6 sq in.

In any case, it looks like EBC can fix you up. Not sure if the power vs. manual swap will work but I would try it... Hey, many fullsize Dodge pickups with single piston calipers had manual brakes, so why not the Desoto?

Lou

_________________
Home of Slant6-powered fun machines

I'm thinking of a 1.03 master with boost.

I don't think I have the pedal ratio for manual brakes.

Sandy- I have the EBC "Reds" on front (Large Rotor) setup and they work exceptionally well! 64' Dart GT,so it's probably alot lighter vehicle. (Sliders,not pin type)

_________________
1964 Dart GT

If using boost, you should have an easy pedal. Of course, pedal ratio is a big factor too.

Lou

_________________
Home of Slant6-powered fun machines

Thanks Dan and Lou.

I think I will limit my changes to pads and master cylinder on this round.

First I m going to try dialing out the rear brakes a little to see if that changes anything .

Now that I am thinking about it, I recall the pedal travel was quite small. I like more travel for better modulation. Maybe that will let you stop the car w/engine off anyway.

Lou

_________________
Home of Slant6-powered fun machines

A smaller bore master will increase pedal travel and give you more leverage.

_________________
Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

Hi Ed,

Yep, I believe that is why Sandy wants to use the smaller one.

Lou

_________________
Home of Slant6-powered fun machines

For starters I dialed out some rear brake with the prop valve.
This gave me less pedal effort and a better feel.

When we went to redo the fronts we discovered the metallic pads had worn the rotors beyond limit. The other rotors I had (used) were 10.86 instead of 11.75. We skimmed the smaller rotors and installed them with EBC Yellowstuff pads.

There was a great improvement in effort and feel.....even with the small rotors.

Next week we install the new 11.75 rotors with the EBC Yellowstuff pads.

I bet .....even better.

_________________
Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

Great progress! Lou

_________________
Home of Slant6-powered fun machines