The Guy in MY 99TA

I've been looking @ some builds and mostly everybody is ditching ABS but I havent seen anybody ditching the power brakes for a manual setup?

I'm thinking about doing it. at this point I more so want to do it to clean my engine bay up and the weight savings will be nice too... I just wish I would have done it while I had then engine out.

I am experienced w/ manual brakes so its not it big deal to me. I drove my 68 camaro as a DD in college w/ manual brakes so I'm used to it(not too long ago) and I also have an 86 toyota w/ manual brakes(will one day have an ls1/t56 b/c I already have the motor and trans).

custm2500

iTrader: (11)

I would guess because most people drive there cars all the time and they aren't willing to sacrifice power brakes for the tiny bit of weight savings.

The Guy in MY 99TA

some folks are cutting metal supports out! and STILL keeping the power brakes!!! lol

I've never thought twice about having manual brakes though.

custm2500

iTrader: (11)

If you have brakes you won't hit anything. that is how I would look at it.

Again it is an educated guess for my reasoning.

Blown06

iTrader: (32)

Are you saying that if you don't have power brakes you'll hit something??? ...and thats supposed to be a guess influenced by your education???

Once again..............your an idiot!

To the OP:

I just converted to manual brakes on my truck. Looks good, losses weight, simple and works good.

Most don't do it probably because the trouble. It's easy to bypass the ABS pump with a kit and go down the road. When adding a manual master cylinder you got to pull the dash out, measure and modify the brake pedal to get the right ratio, new lines.........................................

Villain281H

iTrader: (5)

I'm guessing that most don't have their build to the point of little vacuum needed to make the power to manual brakes a viable option. My Nova has always had manual brakes and I have no problem with them, but I won't switch the Formula over until it needs it due to low vacuum. Personal perference I guess....

Derek

The Guy in MY 99TA

I guess the brake pedal deal would be an aggrevating thing.

I still think I'm gunna do it though... it'll definately clean up the engine bay!

Fireball

iTrader: (21)

I have manual brakes. quite a few have done it...

definately not plug and play...requires alot of work.

nighthawk15

I've never driven a car with manual brakes but I would imagine its just one of those things where there is no real reason for most people to put in all the effort. Power brakes don't really have a negative that I know of, they aren't that heavy, and all the hoses are toward the back of the engine bay mostly out of the way. The ABS on the other hand is a somewhat simple operation in comparison and frees up a ton of space in the bay. Not to mention the stock ABS on these cars is really not very good or reliable. Maybe the LS cars are better but I know issues are plentiful on the LT1 valve assemblies. I got rid of mine because my 97 is a 4 channel car and the extra control box (very expensive part!) started leaking. There's seriously like a big *** cavern where the valve assembly and ABS/ASR control box used to be!

Fireball

iTrader: (21)

the oEM brakes are very heavy...to go with the very lightweight race brakes requires manual conversion.

nighthawk15

Ok now it makes more sense! I do drag race but I'm not really a hardcore drag guy so the tiny light drag brakes weren't even something I thought of.

suicidal racing

iTrader: (14)

its pretty simple its this thing called money.

you ditch the abs and thats like 15lbs right there..to run a proportioning valve only cost 50$ to do vs 175$ for the manual deal not to mention theres more work and alot of people are scared to mess with brakes.

you figure what the master on power brakes is what 10lbs vs a manual which is 3lbs or so (im guessing on these weights so dont get pissy people) So for 125$ your only saving 7lbs now when really you could use that for other things that would cut more weight out of.

BlackScreaminMachine

iTrader: (17)

JL converted his over, TONS more room and definitly ditched weight. I have had Manual Brakes in the past but I do too much street driving to do it to this car. Hell my ABS still works mint!!

MOST if not all people who do a Manual Conversion also does a Light Weight Brake system which is a MUCH thinner disk rotor which is honestly not meant for HD street use. I beleive its a metal on metal type system.

5.3LJimmy

iTrader: (10)

The answer you are looking for is money. I've got about 2500 bucks in my manual/drag brake conversion. Most will look at this amount of money and start thinking about what power upgrades that will buy.

JL ws-6

iTrader: (50)

I did it... it's a good bit of weight out, alot of work for sure, as I redid all my lines from scratch with -3an fittings, tube nuts, etc. It did come out great though. Certainly not cheap, but any weight you can remove helps, removing rotating weight, AND unsprung weight, helps even more.

I didn't spring for the carbon brakes, but the next time around if there's another round in the brake department upgrades.. will be the carbon rotors, and spindle mount wheels. That stuff is really light! Certinly not streetable, but in the light department, it's killer!

LTFOUR

iTrader: (23)

I've got the manual brake conversion on my car, just takes getting used to if you're never had anything but power brakes. I'm still on the actual stock brakes though. Will probably move over to drag brakes next year.

Sideways240sx

iTrader: (22)

I did it. Mainly for weight savings, But i also did the strange 4 piston drag calipers @ all four corners, and the strange manual master is porportioned correctly for them, so manual master, line lock, and calipers, then alot of work.

I havn't driven it yet, so im not sure how bad it is, but rolling down the trailer, the pedal wasn't to bad.

Definatly looks alot nicer, gives you more room, saves weight, ect.




Chris

custm2500

iTrader: (11)

There was some sarcasm in my statement but it is hard to tell on a forum. My full thought explained a bit more is that for the tiny bit of savings people don't want to give up the added stopping power of power brakes. Not only that but you are spending a good deal of money and not gaining much for you dollar.

The Guy in MY 99TA

yeah its a little bit of money, but for the amount of money people are spending on aftermarket brakes and weight reduction and other stuff it isnt THAT much more money, IF they'de go ahead and do it all @ once, which is my plan.

Jon@BruteSpeed

iTrader: (3)

I put in manual brakes, the biggest *** pain was running new lines. As far as modifying the pedal, you only need to pull the pedal assembly and drill a hole 1" higher for a better ratio. And as far pedal feel, very nice with a Strange set up....but I'm only going 122.