kensback

I have been having braking trouble with my TE cortina ghia i just purchased, you see, you have to jump on the brakes to stop. I've replace the pads, bled the brakes and scuffed up the discs to make sure they werent glazed but with no effect, could there be a problem with the booster or master cylnder, if so will an XD falcon one fit or do I have to get one out of another cortina?

 

RevHeadRon

what do you mean by having to jump on the brakes, do you mean that there is no vacuum assist? what type of carb are you running? what sort of motor is it? is it the 6cylinder type or a 2ltr? it could be the booster not getting any vacuum from the motor (bug lumpy cams, too big a carby, side draft webers) or you could have problems inside the master cylinder itself, have you modified the brakes in any way, bigger calipers on the front, bigger wheel cylinders on the rear. or it could just be old and have a ceased piston in a caliper or wheel cylinder

kensback

When I say i have to jump on the brakes, i mean that if i push them hard to the floor all the car does is slow down gradually (which can be quite dangerous traveling in traffic, god bless the handbrake) it doesn't lock up, all the brakes are stock, it has new calipers and pads and disks. The motor is a 6cyl crossflow with cast iron head, redline manifold, xf 2barrel carb (as the holley shit it self and i havn't replaced it) stage 2 cam, 20 thou over pistons, genie extractors.

TaraHymen

welcome to the wonderful world of cortina'a LOL they werent reputed for having outstanding brakes. you could try a better quality softer brake pad but they dont make a great deal of difference. there are plenty of brake upgrade kits available for the cortina. my corty runs XF calipers front and rear which does make a lot of difference.

no you cant use the xd master cylinder without a lot of pissfartin around. u can however with very little modification(changing flare nuts) fit a XA-XC master cylinder. if u dont touch the rest of the brakes and use the bigger MC it'll give u a very solid but inefficient pedal.

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Fordtech.

It does sound like the servo, the way to test it is, switch off engine, pump the brakes 4 times, hold the pedal down whilst starting the engine, the pedal should go another 1" further down, if it doesn't, the servo is faulty. If it does, I'd have the rear brakes stripped and inspected.

clevo400

Sound like the servo but it should be hard to apply the brakes when u drive.
When u test and pump the brakes I think it gets really hard then when u start the engine the pedal should hit the floor.
Also check the Master Cylinder is not leaking outside. Also it pitts on the inside and loses preessure. We used to Stainless Sleeve them but u can just buy a new one from Brakemart for $150.
Good luck and remember 3 car lengths in between !!!

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regards
Stephen

kensback

Cheers for that! will give it a shot over the weekend!