[mashtun]

Hi Mike,

Originally Posted by Mike

Hi Mashtun
How do you find your brakes with the standard Sierra servo?
Do you have drum or disc rear brakes?

Sadly it's so long ago that my Cabrio was last on the road (almost 14 years... ) that I really don't recall its braking characteristics. I do remember other problems though (some of which, like the lack of width with the standard pedal arrangement, you've addressed and I plan to address) but I'll save those for other threads.

My donor was a 1983 1.6 Sierra so 240mm solid discs on the front and drums (8", I think) on the back. However, I'm replacing those with front calipers that'll take 260mm vented discs and a rear disc setup that'll take solid discs (253mm, I think).

Originally Posted by Mike

I am aware that fitting a 200BHP engine means that if I want to use its performance I need brakes to match

I think there are lots of factors that affect the braking performance you need - and IMO some have more influence than engine power (how late you leave it before braking, for instance - not advocating a leave-it-to-the-last-second braking style on the public highway of course, just saying!).

Originally Posted by Mike

There is of course more to it than just the servo boost - the bore of the master cylinder, and the mechanical advantage of the pedal arrangement are factors too.

No question that's true. And while we can be guided by what others have done (which certainly contributed to my decision to replace the drums at the back) and be more than reasonably confident of ending up with something safe and performant, ultimately calculation and comparison against some personal benchmark seems the only way of being sure? But I haven't made any calculations myself so am certainly not preaching!

Mark.