The Project Gromit First Steps Heading West Power Steering Brakes BobRickard@mac.com

click photo to enlarge The original brake pedal has one master cylinder which feeds all four wheels. This provides a single point of failure for all brakes. The vacuum booster is not shown, because Gromit's was missing. The new Wilwood brake pedal has separate master cylinders for the front and rear brakes. This minimizes the potential for a loss of all braking. A side by side comparison. By correctly sizing the master cylinder bores and installing residual pressure valves in the brake lines, the new system will not require a vacuum booster. Like the original master cylinder, both of the new master cylinders have remote reservoirs. An adjustable balance bar pivots on a spherical bearing. When the balance bar is centered, it pushes equally on both master cylinders creating equal pressure, given that the master cylinders are the same size bore. When adjusted as far as possible toward one master cylinder, it will push approximately twice as hard on that cylinder as on the other. A dash mounted knob connected to the balance bar by a flexible shaft will allow easy adjustment of brake bias to accomodate changes in road conditions or Gromit's load. < Back       More to come ...