Reply to "Brake fluid?"

Removing the shuttle valve means as you described- hooking the front brakes together, on one line from the master and the rears together on a second line so your car still has a dual-circuit master cylinder is for safety. I added the stop-light switch to the front brakes for convenience- the electrical lines wouldn't reach to a rear setup. Be sure you know which master cylinder port is for the fronts! Some owners use a mechanical switch attached to the brake pedal so no electro-hydraulic brake switch is needed. Our Pantera has been without the shuttle valve and stock proportioning valve for 31 of the 36 yrs we've owned it.

Anyone upgrading their brakes should ash-can the stock proportioning valve and its plumbing. Whether you can run without ANY proportioning valve depends on how your Pantera's running gear is set up & what's there. True- the stock non-adjustable valve is worthless if you've changed tire or brake sizes, and brake action is transformed (to the good) when 100% pressure is available to the big stock fronts instead of to the small stock rears. But once re-plumbed, you may still need a manual valve spliced into the rears at the master cylinder to reduce rear pressure and prevent premature REAR lockup.

Try it without any valve and have a couple of friends (one on each side of the car) watch you do a panic stop to see which end locks up first. If it's the fronts, you'll be fine without a valve. Premature REAR lockup is highly unstable & leads to snap-spins.