Remote Brake Servo

[Guest The Modfather]

Has anyone who has fitted a zetec used a remote brake servo? I have been looking at Ratsport who sell them for circa £150. I am looking to go from pinto to zetec, but don't want to lose braking power as I believe the Sierra servo has to be removed due to fouling the engine?????

If so, I would like to keep a servo set up for obvious reasons of being able to stop when I want to, and not have to use Mrs Miggins rear bumper

[Guest Ian & Carole]

Hi Daz

 

No servo on our car, removed to fit new engine, never been a problem, infact I prefare it without one.

[Guest The Modfather]

In what way do you prefer it Ian? Less likely to lock up under heavy braking??

 

Cheers

 

Darren

[Guest Ian & Carole]

Hi yes much more feeling IMHO others might disagree, press harder you get more stopping and not locked up wheels.

 

Never had a servo on any of my comp. cars I really believe you can feel your braking better.

 

Sierra weighs nearly a ton ? kit weights 1/2 - 2/3rd ? of that, like I say though, just my opinion.

[Guest woolly]

Darren

on my 3a with standard sierra servo and master cyl the car is over braked if you go for them in a hurry. i have driven it a few times with the servo vac disconnected and don't like it at all, the car will stop but the effort is too high for me (wimp).

i think the servo multiplies your foot effort by about 1.3 - 1.5 times.

a smaller dia master cylinder will give you more effort at the wheels at the expense of pedal travel increasing so is a option.

a remote servo will not work unless you have 2 of them one for each brake circuit.

 

woolly

[Guest benham]

Wonder if something like the setup from a Saxo/106 could be adapted, with the transverse bar.

 

Regards,

Andy

[Guest carl leonard]

Wonder if something like the setup from a Saxo/106 could be adapted, with the transverse bar.

 

Regards,

Andy

 

 

When I converted my 2B to Zetec power I removed the servo and mounted a floor pedal box, Each cylinder has its own 'fluid pot' mounted on the top.

 

I fitted a bias bar to ensure the right right pressure was applied back / front.

 

Carl

[speedtripledan]

I took the servo off 2b for a while in my opinion it was dangerous you needed lead boots to stop from speed. I,d rather over braked than under. I,m sure with a floor mounted type with a master cylinder for back and one for the front would be ok ??

Thats what i will be looking at come zetec time..

[Mitch]

im with dan, when i went bike carbs, i disconnected the servo, n *bleep* myself, but just heard of a company on southport with excellent reputation, sorted geoff "do I " out with new pad material, and offered loads of advice about his set up, (pedal was wrong ratio, shoudl be 6-1 was more like 3-1 with new zero pedals,) stops on a pin now without servo,

 

will get more info when i see him later,

 

Mitch

[Guest robinj66]

Ford Escorts (V & VI) had remote servos fitted - might be useful as a donor

[Guest carl leonard]

Ford Escorts (V & VI) had remote servos fitted - might be useful as a donor

 

Agreed - you must get the right master cylinder for the job otherwise you may have problems stopping the car!

 

Seek some advice before buying / fitting.

 

Remember its great going 130MPH with a Zetec but you must also be able to stop / control the car when you apply the brakes in all conditions.

 

carl.

[Les Welsher]

I used one from a fiesta as my inlet is on the drivers side

 

 

Les

[Guest The Modfather]

Remember its great going 130MPH with a Zetec but you must also be able to stop / control the car when you apply the brakes in all conditions.

 

carl.

 

I shouldn't think I'll have any problems knowing how to stop or control a car at high speed I pursue people at very high speeds for a living

I also assess other pursuit drivers to ensure that they can control their vehicles, I'll let you off as you probably didn't know

 

I would look for one from a smaller car rather than one for a larger car, purely because of the greater loss of vehicle weight. I like your idea Les of using a Fiesta one. I will give it a try and remove the servo vac line. My racing Anglias never had servo's, but they did have 4 pot calipers with drilled and cross vented discs!

[thespannerman]

Run a 3A with no servo no problem. Use the master cylinder in the kit through an unmodified mini brake limiter to the rear drums. Love the feel and fead back you get. Just need to apply the brake and then squeeze the pedal to alter the brake pressure. Never had a problem with being under braked, hate production cars riding the pedal on tip toes. ps: I run xr4 callipers and vented discs. REMEMBER - APPLY & SQUEEZE

[ibrooks]

A properly set up braking system without a servo is far better than a system with a servo but as some people have found simply pulling the servo off the system bears no relation to a proper setup. The size of the master cylinder and slave cylinders has to be properly matched with the pedal ratio and the size of the brake discs and weight of the car.

 

I did quite a bit of work on the GTM to get this right and with no servo (you can't fit one) if you push the brakes hard it slows down and stops. Push harder and it will lock the front wheels. Push really hard and it'll lock all four (on a wet road - never tried that one in the dry). Fortunately I managed all this with stock parts from donor vehicles (Mini master cylinder, Metro turbo front brakes and MGF rear calipers on Mini front discs). To be honest I was a bit surprised at how well it all works for such a mish-mash of parts.

 

You can get remote servos with different amounts of assistance - if you try carefully without the standard servo and it's not to your taste then it might be worth looking at a smaller servo. It might also be worth trying to track down a larger Sierra master cylinder to use without the servo (non-ABS models with discs all around had a bigger master than the disc/drum cars). After that you get into engineering things and going for different master cylinders - I've modified a Sierra pedal box to operate twin masters with the standard pedal for the 200 but it's very much work in progres and I've been busy with another little bit of a project so that's on hold for the moment but I can provide details/piccies for anyone who would like them.

 

Iain