Brake Pedal Box Mk2 Escort

Hey mate,

I have been going through a similar scenario with my mk2 restoration. Swapping engines and need the engine bay real estate for induction. In hindsight I should have modified the cars internal panels and made room for a booster and master cylinder to be mounted hard up to the firewall. Didn't do this and won't use the standard brake booster tower so most likely will run a remote brake booster. Have upgraded my front calipers but kept the drum rears. This means I can get away with one remoter booster. If you have rear discs you will need either a dual circuit remote booster or run a pair of boosters. Depending on your desire to keep thing everything legal and your need to get changes engineers/RWC pedal assemblies and proportioning valves are tricky. A few engineers said to no to the pedal assembly. Proportioning valve, ok but can't be able to adjust it inside the car.

So yeah, interesting project. Easy enough to make the changes you want to make, keeping everything above board I have found to be a bit more of a challenge.

//Lee

So why don't you like to use a bias adjustable pedal box with no boosters? Set the bias then lock it up. No dash mounted cabled adjuster. Err on the small side for master cylinder bores and you will have reasonable pedal effort with perhaps a small amount of extra pedal travel or alternatively twin remote boosters (VH44's are common) and larger bore cylinders. Both lines still plumbed through the brake failure block.
On one of my vehicles the engineer approved the bias pedal box provided there was no 'adjuster', so set & lock nut up and still plumbed through the failure block for RWC/ADR requirements including passing pedal force pressure regs.
Twin remote boosters can be done but complicate things if you want to say mount them hidden under the dash etc and need to run vacuum lines to them too.
SFE

I have a mk2 which i Modded the brake system to run std vents at the front with volvo calipers and the rear has machined down the size(to fit under 13s) of solid volvo front disks with 2001 Peugeot rear calipers. The master is from the TF Cortina and no vac booster , i needed to install an online bias tap to the rear as they were locking up first. .. With some adjusting i had it so all 4 locked almost simultaneously so max braking could be done , pedal effort wasn't much worse than a stock escort but it could haul up much much sooner.

What is this pedal effort test rubbish?
You can do a dodgy with the brake pedal and where the clevis pin holes are .. just Weld them up and move the holes up 5mm , this will totally change the pedal effort to softer but make sure it still gets full stroke to the master . Could lengthen the pedals as well. I'll prolly get bagged out for that comment !!

If you go looking for a remote vac booster , they are plenty about in usa & uk cheaper than Aus. . With the freight and exchange rate . Another option is use a Datsun 120y master butted up at the firewall ..

I did away with the booster on my old Mk1 and swapped it for 1100cc MK1 Escort master cylinder straight on the firewall. It worked well but did require a lot more pedal force.
With my MK2 I want to keep the factory booster but I have rear disc brakes so it won't work. Does anyone have links or part numbers for a dual circuit booster that will work with Mk2 front brakes/ R31 skline rear brakes?  I definitely don't want to go unboosted again. By law in Qld, if the car came factory with a booster, it must run one.

What is the technical difference between using an adjustable brake pedal box to using an adjustable proportioning valve located near the rear axle housing?
The adjustable brake pedal box seems to me to be a very complex and messy solution, the adjustable proportioning valve seems much simpler.

I agree. My knowledge is that a proportioning valve is designed to moderate the line pressure to the rear brakes. Some have a "knee" point to limit the pressure as braking forces increase to prevent lockups as the weight distribution moves forward. To me this is the opposite of what you're after as disc brakes require more pressure for a given deceleration rate.

I wasn't aware that there was a proportioning valve on a standard Escort? I know of the pressure differential valve with the switch bet where is the proportioning valve?