Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Brakes wilwood upgrade=soft pedal??

just put the wilwood dynalite caliper upgrade on my baby. they are the 4piston kind with 4 bleeders per caliper. anyways me and my boy installed them and bled all the way around twice and still have a very soft pedal. i know that im filling a little bit more volume and it might make for a slightly softer pedal and its braking pretty good but i would expect more from such an upgrade. is there any specific bleed pattern for these? we did back to front, outside in since thats the best typical method but im just checking if anybody else had this problem?? im pretty sure our master cylinder can handle it because people all over the boards are running bigger/better brake setups.

Bleed outside, then inside.

If you wish; remove and plug the lower bleeders. The are not 'bleeders' depending upon which side of the car they are on.

And lastly, depending upon what caliper they are the feel may not change.

We recommend the inboard side, then outboard side, then the inboard side again. Also, as Todd (the other Todd ) said...only two of the bleeders are used per caliper. I don't want to insult anyone, but make sure you are bleeding the top two...sounds stupid, but I have seen people bleed the bottom two and wonder why they have air in the system.

-Todd

no insult here just as long as the amateur factor is out the window . me and my boy have done much bigger jobs then this and thats the reason for the curious post. we did outside to inside and were already aware of the 4 bleeder valves being designed for either side and therefore using only 2. this was my reasoning for being concerned is that we already covered these basis'. i can try the inside-outside-inside method and we'll see. i was testing them this morning and they actually stop great its just a much softer pedal. thanks fellas

why do bottom bleeders exist if they are not to be utilized?

'cause when you put the caliper on the other side of the car, the bottom bleeders are on the top...its a universal caliper

My last .02

The bleeders on the bottom should be plugged. I broke off a nipple on the race car and will never run them again. Rocks can get lodged in there. Get a pair of 1/8npt allen plugs.

Bleed OUTSIDE first, not inside. Always bleed from the far side first this way you do not suck air from one to the other.

Also, the DL calipers are universal, HOWEVER they do not have two internal crossovers. This means that that on one side they fill properly, but on the other they full from the top down. This is not the best as air can become trapped. Light taps on the calper body will dislodge them during the bleeding.

a trick I use on racebikes....(not the exact way but this works for cars too)...at the end of the night, cut a piece of 2x4 lumber to lodge between the brake pedal and the front of the seat. Pump the brakes up and hold the pedal down overnight. The constant pressure in the system will get the majority of the air out (the air bubbles work their way back through the master cyl....I did it when I installed the wilwoods on my SVT and the pedal was rock hard after that

Good trick Judge. I had a soft pedal on mine, but haven't had the chance to get very many miles on the system so I rebled them Sunday. Still haven't had a chance to get the car out of the garage to check the pedal but I'll try that trick if they haven't stiffened all ready.

Thanks,
Rick

I have to say that I don't support this plan.

Calipers should not be exposed to long term pressure holds like this for extended periods of time, as calipers tend to spread (the lighter ones more than the larger ones) this is applying a bending load on them not for a few seconds under braking but for hours at a time. This in turn may relax the stiffness and memory of the materials. While it won't show up immediately the long term effect is a loss of bridge stiffness.

The need to get air out is important I agree. Your best bet here is not over night pressure (whilch won't force the air to the top with only one stroke anyhow) but to properly 'two man bleed' the system and tap on the caliper to loosen any stuck air bubbles. DO NOT look to for high pressures when bleeding; it is not required, only fluid displacement is needed.

The Dynalites are a bit of a hassle to bleed in that they have ONE crossover in them. On one side this crossover is at the bottom where it should be, on the other side the caliper is up-side-down and the crossover is on the top thus the fluid cavity will not self purge until the fluid fills the air pocket and displaces the air. At least one side is easy!