Need brake system help - feels like wooden brake pads
 

This is actually in my '69 Impala but the braking system is pretty much the same as my truck, so though I'd ask here.

I have had a problem - slow to react brakes - for years ever since I first put rear disc on. I've long since taken those off, and now the system is a complete Willwood setup, but the problem remains!

Here's the problem:

The brake system does not respond quickly enough for panic braking. Although the system is able to provide full lockup it takes a couple of seconds for braking force to build.

Another way to describe it would be that the pads feel like they're made out of wood and don't bite/grab the pad at first. We've tried several different pad types (organic, metal, semi), and it seems not related.

It feels as though the brake fluid is being forced to operate through a very small orifice, so that it takes time but ultimately has the full force.

Last time the car responded properly was factory drum-drum.

I then upgraded to factory front disc and mid-80s rear disc, with Corvette master, and that’s when this all began.

Ultimately the entire braking system from the pedal forward was replaced with Willwood, and the problem remains! So the only parts that remain from the problematic system are the pedal, the pedal box, and the pushrod.

The brake pedal rides about equally high as the clutch pedal, so I don’t think it’s wildly out of adjustment. But could a maladjustment of the brake clevis, and hence the brake rod angle, cause any of this?

Any other ideas that don’t involve lines, master, or the brake themselves?

Remember, new rotors, pads, mounts, lines, master. I've tried a hydraboost in place of the vacuum booster, same result (but then a but more assist once it gets going).

Re: Need brake system help - feels like wooden brake pads
 

Assuming your hardware is not defective and the pedal adjustments are correct...

1)
A pinched hard line someplace. But then that would seem to show itself in the bias front to rear. That is, if the pinch were in the front, your rears would lock up before the front reached adequate pressure for full stop power. You might not even notice a pinch in the rear of the system.

Proportioning valve trouble? Can you remove that from the system and go for a test drive?

Some sort of delayed boost/assist action, faulty booster?

Need to bed the pads into the rotor and season the rotors. The rotor is too slick for the pad to grab properly and so it needs to be seasoned and the pads need to be bedded:

http://baer.com/site_images/Rotor%20...%20Bedding.pdf

Hth,

-klb

Re: Need brake system help - feels like wooden brake pads
 

Since the pedals are all that's left here is some information on them. The second link addresses issues about pedal feel. Which I think is what you are experiencing. Something that may help you trouble shoot your problem would be a pressure guage plumbed into a bleeder port on a caliper. Then you have a visual indication of what the fluid is doing.
Good luck

http://knowhow.napaonline.com/how-to...e-pedal-ratio/

https://alconkits.com/technical-info...ng-brake-feel-


https://www.amazon.com/SSBC-A1704-Br.../dp/B003VYVFSS

Re: Need brake system help - feels like wooden brake pads
 

Maybe call Wilwood and make sure you're running the correct residual pressure valve?