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Technical How to increase Fiat Bravo rear brake pressure

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Technical How to increase Fiat Bravo rear brake pressure

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wellu

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Hi and thank you to let me in to this great forum!

Is there any way to increase my -99 Fiat Bravo 1.2 16V rear brake pressure?

This year's first snow is in the ground now here in finland, and it would be nice to use "left foot braking" when driving around.

Brakes are in ok conditition and just passed MOT. Handbrake working fine and difference between right/left-side brakes were 0%. Brakefluid is new.
Car allmost goes sideways when stepping hard on gas and brakes same time but not quite.

Why do i want to do this? I've had three Fiat Uno's and Uno was a really really fun car to drive in the winter time. It was really easy to do classical "scandinavian flick" with left foot braking and car was going like a RWD car - only much much more faster!:devil:

Bravo is like Uno to drive, only left foot braking is not possible. It would be nice to show all of Volvo/BMW drivers that FWD car can also go sideways and be fast as hell.:devil:

So, is only way to find bigger bore brake cylinders for rear brakes? Or can i adjust the "proportioning valve" somehow? I am an car mechanic and i have all necessary tools to fix cars so please help me.

And sorry my bad english. It's much more easy to speak it.:D

-wellu from Finland.
 
wellu said:
Hi and thank you to let me in to this great forum!

Is there any way to increase my -99 Fiat Bravo 1.2 16V rear brake pressure?

This year's first snow is in the ground now here in finland, and it would be nice to use "left foot braking" when driving around.

Brakes are in ok conditition and just passed MOT. Handbrake working fine and difference between right/left-side brakes were 0%. Brakefluid is new.
Car allmost goes sideways when stepping hard on gas and brakes same time but not quite.

Why do i want to do this? I've had three Fiat Uno's and Uno was a really really fun car to drive in the winter time. It was really easy to do classical "scandinavian flick" with left foot braking and car was going like a RWD car - only much much more faster!:devil:

Bravo is like Uno to drive, only left foot braking is not possible. It would be nice to show all of Volvo/BMW drivers that FWD car can also go sideways and be fast as hell.:devil:

So, is only way to find bigger bore brake cylinders for rear brakes? Or can i adjust the "proportioning valve" somehow? I am an car mechanic and i have all necessary tools to fix cars so please help me.

And sorry my bad english. It's much more easy to speak it.:D

-wellu from Finland.
Click to expand...

Hi. Your English is excellent..!! As Im sure is your winter driving..☺

I cannot think of a way of safely/ reliably
making the rear brake behave differently

Charlie
 
Thank you.

That's true. Only "safe way" what i can figure is to find 1-2mm larger brake cylinders for rear brakes. It's so close but just not enought braking power to lock rear wheels on snow. Ofcourse if i slam the brakes they will lock, but engine will stall...

There is now 22mm cylinders, where to find 23-25mm?
 
Like you suggested, you could modify the fitting or adjustment of the brake balance valve, this increases the rear braking performance if it detects that there is more weight in the back of the car. You could first check that this valve is moving correctly under suspension load, they can become corroded or stuck.

Also you should confirm that you have the larger rear drums on your car, early models with smaller petrol engines and no ABS had smaller drums also, so you might be able to upgrade there depending on your setup.

I don't know if bigger cylinders would actually increase your braking effort... with drums you want to push "earlier" i.e. more piston travel.
 
In this model balance valve isn't adjustable. There's no lever that "reads" positionof the rear suspension. Only valve that reduces braking pressure going to the rear brakes. I just check that.

But now situation is a little bit better. I opened rear drums and manualy adjusted brake shoes so close to drum as it's possible. Still i thin it would be better to have a little amount of braking forse to the back.

And i think my car have so called "little drums". Haven't ever seen any larger. Even my father's -01 Brava 1.6 16V has same size drums.
 
I would expect a 1.6 to have larger drums but maybe not all of them ??

I don't remember the exact sizes in metric but from memory the small drums were about 6" and the big ones 8".

I have an older Tipo 1.4 and it has the small drums (same as Tipo 1.6), but my 2001 Brava 1.2 Formula with ABS has the big drums.

So if you could do this upgrade I think you could lock up the rears no problem... :devil:
 
I've been thinking this now couple days. I think it'best and safest way just change rear brakes to bigger ones.

If i change rear drums to larger versions, what do i need to change?
- Drums
- Shoes
- Brake cylinders
- "brake shields" (don't know is that right term. I mean part wich is behind of all brake parts and cylinders are attached to it).
 
Get trailing arms with big brakes from junkyard and swap them out (check the bearings first).
 
Neverth said:
Get trailing arms with big brakes from junkyard and swap them out (check the bearings first).
Click to expand...
Yes, this is the way i am looking for.

I think to fit Fiat Tempra S.W. trailing arms & brakes (drums are larger) and hope that brake-balance wont go too much to the rear.

But anyway, this winter i went with "stock" brakes and it worked fine. Just -32°C temperatures did some damage to front shocks (shocks went hard and front-end is really loosing grip right now) and engine's head-gasked and gearbox. Hopefully i manage to fix these problems before next winter.

Thankfully i bought spare-engine&gearbox from Fiat Punto with just 95 pounds.:D

I don't know can i ask here, but i'll ask anyway...
Would there be significantly difference in performance if i fit 4-2-1 exhaust manifold and 2,5-3" exhaust to that 1.2 16V engine? Have anyone tried/dynoed it yet?
I think that 1.2 8V manifold is slightly better (4-2-1) than the original 16V 4-1. Only thing is that 8V manifold wont fit to 16V.

Chip tuning "is not possible" in finland. Or yes it is with 500€ + MOT. I rather just buy cheaper remapaple injection system and remap it my self.


And sorry my bad english.:(
 
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