brake bias

[Tiptop]

Hi everyone,

I'm having a little trouble with the brake bias on my 1988 fford van diemen.

Can some one just clarify which direction the bias needs to be turned for more to the front or more to the rear ?

I'm getting conflicting advice at the moment and it seems like no matter which way I turn the bias it dosen't make a difference

Turn left for front (towards the front of the car) ?
Turn left for rear (towards the rear) ?

Also I would like to know if there is a professional setup book to help with suspensions etc for a van diemen

Many Thanks All

[spearce]

Tiptop, it may be that something is broken inside the pedal, stopping the adjuster working properly (you'll need to take it to bits to finf out). I'd get all 4 wheels of the deck, bleed the brakes, and get things roughly right by trying to rotate the wheels with an assistant's foot on the pedal.

[RMR]

If its the same mechanism as an 89 then clockwise is towards the rear. Best bet is to follow Spearce advice, its exactly what i'd do.

[gfm]

I think Spearce is dead right too.
It maybe worth adding that sitting in the car with the wheels off the ground, get your assistant to try to turn the front wheels as you slowly add pressure. At the point where he/she cannot move the front wheel because it's locked on, hold the footbrake on at pressure and move to a rear wheel. If your assistant can JUST rotate the rear, then your brake balance could be close to being right for the dry. Very roughly.
If you are no where near this optimum, fronts locked/rears just moving, playing with the balance bar at this stage may then reveal whether a. it's working, and b. in which direction you turn the nob to get more or less on the front.
Another snag is these remote balance bars seem very notchy and inaccurate, not precise in their mechanical action.
Sort of.

[Tiptop]

cheers everyone thanks for all your help... I'll be checking the brake bias this weekend

[spearce]

No prob tiptop, I guess you race at CCombe ??
See you in Oct maybe.

[Tiptop]

yes I race at combe I will be there for the 13-14th Sept car races double header as I have a few more things to do to the car to make it a little more competitive

Cheers

[C R Box]

A bit of an aside really, but I needed to set up the balance bar pivot position on my competition Austin Healey, so that the fronts locked up slightly before the rears.
We took it to an empty car park and my mate observed me braking hard from about 40mph. He told me which wheel was locking up first and I made the adjustments. Not sure which way to turn the screw it was trial and error.
We retested, checked the other side and completed the set up.

[spearce]

with something like an A-H, I'd guess the ideal split is something like 70/30 front rear, but a FF is nearer 50/50.

[C R Box]

spearce - 70/30 might not be far off, but the described method has given pleasing results.
The 3000's handling trait is, despite the folklore, understeer. Naturally this is due to it's heavy ol' lump up front.
The set up is a bit tricky. Too much rear bias and you get oversteer, but no brakes. Too much front bias and the understeer increases such that you can't get it round the bend.
Trust me. When I first got it, naturally I thought I could do things better than the previous custodian. I adjusted the brake balance bar pivot equi distant. The result was heartstopping understeer at the first bend.
I won't forget that roadtest in a hurry.