Potato potato








...and there's more. My point was (poorly made apparently) that the original poster could take it from some of these comments that a booster will reduce his stopping distance, and it is a 99.9999% certainty that this is not the case.

The booster will not increase braking performance, only reduce pedal effort. Even in the earlier example I gave, if the steering wheel was stong enough to resist being wrapped around your ears and your foot was heavy enough (it usually is on the other pedal), then you could get a truck to stop without a booster. There is a maximum required effort that is allowable by the powers to be, that's why when you go for a roadworthy, it's not just what is happening at the wheels that is measured during a brake test, but also the pedal pressure.

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"I want to upgrade from front drums to disks, probably 7.5" Is a booster required?"

Required??? By who???

By Rego? - go ask them.

By performance? - many Grp N guys don't use them. With road pads/tyres you can lock the brakes without one - you can't stop faster (as long as you ease off before locking occurs

By preference? Definitely booster - although many would not agree.

Cheers, Ian

90% of proper modern racing cars dont use them, its all in the master cylinders as to how much effort is required.. but anyway, i prefer not using one, its very easy in a sticky situation to "jam" the brakes on as hard as you can, hence why abs is so handy to the modern retarded driver.. the non boosted brakes give you a much greater pressure window to operate them in meaning you can be super precise and really feel what the brakes are doing under your foot, its really easy to unlock a locked brake without a booster but its a freaking nightmare to do in a boosted car. there is no stopping distance decrease.. they stop the same, its your leg that has to change to operate them to their maximum potential. anyway, i guess it depends on how you feel in a car, are you capable of hitting the pedal hard enough to stop it if need be, if not, your probably 95 years old and need a booster

ps, to stop clowns, i am talking about minis, with mini brakes and mini master cylinders.. i dont care about old sh!t trucks

Hmmm, I think I'll give up on this one. It seems to me that JME would have got his answer out of the advice that has been given. At least, I hope so.

Regards
Al
(Who is involved with compliancing every work day)

Just an interesting observation....My MG weighs about 800 kilo and comes
standard with unboosted 8" discs. In the dry they're quite good, you've just
got to get on them heavy. However in the wet it is very difficult to determine
the point of lock up. A very uneasy feeling.....dangerous in fact.
It could be the pads although I'm tending towards the thought that the extra pedal pressure
required along with skinny tyres makes it difficult to judge the lock up point.
So even though it will make the engine bay look messy. I think I will fit a booster one day.

Try a set of different grippier pads first, something like the EBC Greenstuff pads. That might reduce pedal pressures a bit.

Hmmm - that's exactly the opposite of what I think. I've always thought that unassisted brakes are better for determining the point of lock-up, because it's just dependent on your foot pressure alone. I've always though along the lines of meeni:



I suppose it just goes to show it's all about preference.

Having said this, if you're looking at boosting your brakes, it may be worth reconditioning them first. I was thinking of boosting the brakes on my all-round drums mini, but after replacing the MC, reconditioning the bias valve and adjusting it all as good as I can get it, I wouldn't bother.

I've locked the wheels up with A008s (at a roundabout, avoiding a bini that pulled out infront of me :) and I'm not sure I could have before reconditoning them. That's another thing I like about unboosted brakes - you can only ever lock them up if you really mean business.

I prefer no booster


I would rather the wheels to not lock up easy cause once they have locked
once good luck getting them to not lock up again while you are trying to pull the car up quickly with a booster

just bumping this up -

Running 7.9" vented discs on the front with drums rear - single line.

Car had a booster , keen to get rid of it due to lack of space - really not too bad ?
Cheers

I was a `no booster man' with S discs for 20 years, until last year. Then, I put a recond VH44J on because it was sitting here on the shelf.
Now, I would not be without it, it feels and stops like a modern car.

I put it under the dash, where it's out of the way.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Use a booster on a street car, it feels much better.

It will work without though, just a bit heavier to push. Here is one I prepared earlier...160km/hr, STD Cooper S discs, STD Bendix pads and no booster....on a racetrack

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NVdILEM7bZs

Cheers

Dan

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Videos - Turbocharged A-Series on Dyno & at Wakefield
Mafs waz not my strong subgeckt at skkol

So if I remove a booster from a factory fitted Cooper S, its illegal. But if I take the 7.5 inch disc brake setup off that Cooper S and fit it to an 850 without the booster it is legal?

I have a Leyland Clubman 1977 that came fitted with drums all round.I have fitted 7.5 discs without a booster, and brakes are fine for me. It has a tandem master cylinder, so if I wanted to fit a booster, do i connect it to the front brakes only?

That is the usual, easiest way.
The rear brake limiter locks at about 450psi anyway, and the wheel cylinders are 5/8", = the rear brakes do bugger all under hard braking.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.