Brake bias valves...

[d1unc]

After failing SVA twice on the brakes (1, becase there is only a small amount of reserve travel in the brake pedal and 2, the rear brakes lock before the front) I am thinking about fitting a brake bias valve.

I have fitted a new master cylinder as suggested and supplied by westfield and have bleed the brakes a few hundred times taking off the rear calipers and leaving the brake pedal pressed down overnight etc and I am still having problems.  

Will fitting a bias valve to the rear brake line cure these two problems?  If so what is the best bias valve to fit and where should I fit it?  I have a 1800 Zetec Westy Speedsport (April 2002) with the standard floor mounted brake pedals,  Sierra calipers at the rear and Cortina capliers at the front (i think).

I have searched through the archives for a bias valve but I cannot find any part numbers, people have suggested mini bias valves and the sva man suggested a fiesta bias valve.  Can anyone give me a clue    as I want to start driving my westfield instead of sitting in it whilst parked in the garage   .

Thanks for your help...

Dunc

[samcooke]

A friend of mine uses a demon tweeks one in his locost race car. It sits just behind the handbrake in the cockpit and can be adjusted on the fly. He swears by it.

As long as it is in the right place in the system, I don't suppose it matters where it physically sits, other than ease of adjustment.

It will certainly fix the locking up problem - that's what they do.

[peterrosey]

I run an adjustable bias valve in my Megabusa (Tilton lever type - excellent), BUT you can't fit an adjustable type prior to SVA. The reason is simple - they have to test them at their most extreme setting (ie most of the hydraulic force to rear) and you will undoubtedly fail again.

First of all I'd speak to Westfield - it's their kit and they should be able to supply you with a vehicle capable of passing SVA!!

I have also heard of some people using a mini pressure valve (and also couldn't find it on the search engine) - what you need to source is an inline device that can't be varied. It might be worth ringing up a mini specialist (leaf through a copy of Mini World in newagents) to see if they can help.

Good luck!

[Blatman]

Dave Andrews web site is what you're after.

LOTS of useful stuff, and a top bloke to boot.

[d1unc]

Thanks guys, Westfield contacted me today (4/11/02) and they are investigating a suitable bias valve for me.  Apparantly they have had a few kits fail sva recently with the same problem.  It will interesting to see what sort they supply.  I think I will try and source a mini compensator valve just in case.  Does anyone know what model year of the mini the compensator valve comes from or did they always have them?

Cheers, Dunc

[Stuart]

Don't fit a Mini one unless you make it adjustable or you will have no rear brake effort.  There is a recent thread on this.