Reply to "Brake Upgrade: Done, but Bugs to Work Out"

The light on is because you had a pressure imbalance in the system and it threw open the warning light valve.

This is a mechanical system and you need to reset that valve manually.

The Pantera uses a Mustang unit. It has a plunger that you just push back in, I think on the opposite side of the sender in the brass H fitting. It's been a while since I had to do it so I'd have to look, but it is there. It might be under the sender unit itself. I forget.

If it is under the sender, then you need to take the sender out to reset the plunger.

Just push that in until it clicks and it is rest and the light should go out.

Second, you MUST remove the stock balance valve from the system AND install a manually adjustable valve between the master and the rear brakes.

The Wilwood is the easiest to get and use. It should be set about right out of the box.

You are limiting the rear braking pressure to about 25 to 33 % of the fronts with it.

If you don't install one, it is going to be like using the hand brake and you will lock up the rears every time and the rear end will come around like in the movies were they do 180 degree turns instantly.

You do not want to do that on the street.

Re-balancing the system is the #1 priority and even for re-sellers is the main liability in selling braking systems.

On pad compounds you need to be very very careful.

You do not want race pad compounds on the street. They are designed to work red hot and on a street car are very dangerous.

The most aggressive pad compound that you want is a Porterfield R4S. "S" is for street. The race pad is the R4. That is the pad compound designation and they are available in many pad designs. They are about $140 per axle. So about $280 for a complete set.

I don't know where the yellow pad that you have stands in these formulas but with a race pad on the street you stand a strong chance that the car won't stop at all under normal street conditions because they are not hot enough.

It's nothing to screw around with.

For a novice, go with something like what SAAC Restorations has put together.

Scott did a lot of the hard work on the brakes already to make these a bolt on and go the first time you put them on.

In all fairness to the other vendors, they all virtually have done the same thing and have other systems available too.

The Brembo system by comparison, is very expensive for this car at around $8,000 but really is a NASCAR type of system which not only do you not need, you probably don't even want.

The key here really is that if you add more braking to the rear, you need to add more to the front to keep it balanced.

Those tiny little pads are stock on the rear of the Pantera for a big important reason. The brakes had to be idiot proof and the only way to do that at the time was to under brake the rear.