The 510 Realm

Were running portafields front and rear. Were hoping for dry on Sunday so we can toss the car a bit. Using neverseize on the adjusters helped. So at least when we're done everything will be adjusted and bleed with new dot 5 fluid. Were just waiting for the call that the 7/8 master has arrived.

As Byron alluded to, pad/shoe choice is critical for a Solo car. I lived some very bad choices over the years..as I thought I had a "race" car. Getting heat into the material and rotor for lineal grip is key for smooth braking.
What that says is you basically need just a street pad, or just a hair above. Best thing I ever did was pitch the so called race or metallic type pads and go with the softest compound I could get for hillclimb/solo/street use.

Other than the charge to the stop box, think about most courses, at least what morphed here...just a quick snub to set the car up and away we go, no hard braking, let alone that the runs are so short. Maybe you are lucky out there they are way faster.

We just do not put enough heat in on a Solo course, I know I sure did not in other than the fastest course's many years ago.

I do have the 15/16 master cylinder, then, one trick I did for a variety of reasons, was put a 2" extension into the brake pedal. This both brought the pedal down for better heel and toe to the gas pedal, and, increased the leverage and hence FEEL of the pedal. Best mod I ever did. The attached picture shows the pedal lower relative to the clutch.

Well too late now to worry about pad choice. It's portafeilds street pad r4s I think. The 7/8 the master went in and bleed smoothly. Will have time to test it tomorrow..id like to find a gravel road to check lock up skid marks. Then maybe a parking lot. Pedel feels much better in the shop. Poor Justin just has me.to advice him so I appreciate all the input. I just always assumed protafeilds were the way to go. I have mentioned that the first few stops might not feel as good when they are cold. Never thought about a lower pedal for better heel to toe. Might mod a pedal to play with later. The 510 is so uncompetitive run time have no value. We race each other. He wins by a second or so everytime. Spins out more too. lol. It's his car so he can drive it harder. I have to fix it so I'm a little.more conservative. Or that's my story. Looks like it might be dry at least on Sunday.

I hear yah !

If you can, BEFORE you go to pre-grid...can you just drive and drag the brakes. Even GOING to per-grid, any heat helps. I used to do that at Knox in the warm up area..screw the tires, get the brakes warmed up.

If all is new too, it does take some time to transfer pad material to rotor, which does help things.

I have Porterfield's on my car. It's been a while since I ordered them but I was pretty sure they are the RS4's. I told them I daily it so I don't want any silly heat up pads. They stop the same regardless of temp, well 4 back to back laps in bonus time and they are shot. I have stock brakes front and rear with the DP racing pedal box so I can adjust bias. The pads helped a ton but at some point it will need something better. Last race I got top time in RWD so I can't complain. It's just hilly billy autox though. Not crazy SCCA autox. I don't even swap tires haha

I'm jumping in late on this, and I don't have the reference handy, but I know I read someplace that it's wise to replace the stock 510 rear wheel cylinders with those from a Datsun 1200 when you do the 280 ZX front brake swap. The cylinders from the 1200 are 11/16 diameter, which-- because it's a smaller bore than stock, which is 13/16-- makes the shoes travel farther, thereby giving more braking action.

I've got this setup on my 510, that is, 280ZX front brakes & calipers, 510 rear drums with 1200 rear wheel cylinders, all of it operated with a 7/8 bore master cylinder (280Z), and I sure do like it a LOT.