Powermaster Newbie ????

[CrusherUsher]

Hey guys,

I am pretty new to the whole turbo regal scene. I recently got an 86 TType that has alot of mods done to it. The carruns extremely strong...so I am happy with that. I am running 8.7's in the eighth, which I know sucks, but I'm still learning.

Last night at the track my "BRAKE" light came on and the pedal got stiff as a board. It wasn't cool because, I was in the pits at the track and although I wasn't going fast, I almost gave me a heart attack when I couldn't stop. After checking a few things out, this is what I found: blown PWR BRK fuse, and brkae fluid all over the brake assembly(reservior and motor) in the engine bay. The wheels and brake area was hot as a firecracker, so I knew that they were dragging or clamped down pretty good. So, I replaced the fuse (30amp) and decided to start it up and go home. It made it about 4 miles and blew the fuse again.....and I ended up replacing it 3 more times just to get it home.


Any ideas?

And, where can I find a good brake system? By that I mean, what is the general thought on this board about converting to some other systems? I REALLY want rear discs.

thanks alot for any help or suggestions!!!

More questions to come about my crappy 60 foots and 8.7 times...

 

[Kevin Turch]

When my car kept blowing fuses, it turned out to be the PM, same symptoms as you. I then converted to vacuum brakes and its the best thing i could of done . No more worrying about fuses, stiff pedals, accumulators, etc.....

I got all my stuff from the junkyard, and the pedal from the dealer.

Good luck
Kevin

 

[CrusherUsher]

Thanks,

Is there a parts list available? It would help to know exactly what I needed to get this thing going again.

Thanks again

 

[Sinful6]

My experience with the powermaster is that when you fix it, you have to set yourself up for it to fail again. And I found the best way to do that is goto Autozone, and purchase the A1 Cardone replacement system(PN# 529702). It has a lifetime warrenty incase it messes up again. Just find a competent mechanic, put it in, and go.

 

[CrusherUsher]

Do you mean a complete system?

What I really want is a brake system that is reliable and will stop that T quickly and competently. I want 4 discs. IS there a kit or anything? Please help. These brakes suck.

I am NOT okay with just being prepared for when they break.

Thanks again.

 

[Sinful6]

A complete new(reman) system from Autozone with a Lifetime warrenty is $141. Not too bad, considering it sells for ~$700 from GM.

 

[CrusherUsher]

What about disc rears?

Is there a cost effective solution to replacing the rears with discs? And, buying from autozone would be giving me the same ting that I have now only further away from breakage. That's not what I want.....everything I have read just points to the PowerMaster system beign inferior......

This is not a knock on you, I just don't want to replace this system with the same thing only newer. I want a good complete brake system or some more alternatives. If anybody has any please let me know.

Thanks ALOT

 

[Sinful6]

The brakes that are on the car are great, its your PM system thats making you think they don't hold/clamp much. If you buy the Autozone one, and take CARE of it, it will work flawlessly(IMHO better then vacuum) until you sell/wreck the car. As far as "disc rears" it seems like you don't know much about brakes because they will work with your current powermaster system. However, I don't see any advantage to them. Just replace your powermaster, and buy an adjustable proportioning valve and don't worry about it again.

 

[CrusherUsher]

You are right, I don't know much about this particular brake system, BUT I do know that there seems to be alot of rear brake conversions for this car, so evidently there must be alot of people or companies that see this as a weak area in the braking system. I appreciate all that you have posted, it is really helpful, and I will probably use the Autozone "fix" that you mentioned.....its just that the discs in the rear just look so much cooler , and I know they have better braking abilities and characteristics than drums. I guess that's why you see them on less and less cars nowdays.


Can you suggest any good disc conversions for the rear?

Thanks again

 

[Sinful6]

Well, I've seen a few T-Types with Baer brakes, however they are extremely expensive(but worth it if your into brakes). Also Turbo magazine did a nice article a while back on brakes for their GN part of their "Project Blackjack"(project to fix up a GN). You might want to see if there is a copy of the article on their site.

 

[switch]

Baer brakes has a few upgrades for our cars, front and rear. Sounds like your pressure switch went, but I'm not sure on that. Do a search under powermaster and that should get you the info you need.

Shawn

 

[CrusherUsher]

Thanks alot guys......now if I can just learn how to tune it....

 

[CrusherUsher]

Hey Sinful6,

Checked out the autozone website and put in that Part#529702
and it couldn't locate it....bad number maybe....I'm about to call, but just wondering

Thanks

 

[CrusherUsher]

Sorry, I figured out what it was.....the number is actually 52-9702

guess that makes a differance on their site.

 

[Sinful6]

oops, missed a key

 

[gnturbo]

I am into brakes,when A vehicle is capable of the speeds these cars can produce its nice to be able to stop just as fast.I am going to do a disc conversion soon myself.That is what seperates a muscle car from a sports car.A sports car can accelerate,corner and brake.I wanna make my TR do just that within reason...accelerate ,corner and brake.My main concern would be on getting a vehicle to stop since that is usually what will kill you faster.If you had to choose between not being able to accelerate or not being able to stop what would you choose?

 

[turboman38]

Put a rear disk conversion kit on and change the power monster to a vacuum setup.

 

[CrusherUsher]

I think I am going to do a rear disc conversion, and since you mentioned it, are you talking about doing it with a kit or is there "donor" parts that I can use from a junkyard car.

Also, What exactly do I need to do the Vacuum setup? I want to make sure I get everything BEFORE I dive into this. Thanks alot guys.

Next, I want to be able to make it corner. I guess springs, bushings and some good shocks are in order. As well as the BMR suspension stuff.

 

[choppers4life]

www.vettebrakes.com

 

[turboman38]

For the vacuum setup you need the master cylinder, vacuum booster, brake pedal from the car your pulling the parts from and a check valve. Here is a link on what parts you need and how to do it: http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/brakes/Powermaster_to_vacuum.html

To make it handle get stiffer springs and front end kit as well as some good shocks. I will be doing the following over the winter to my T:

Front end kit from PST
Bilsteins all the way around (done in back)
New springs in the front (already done in back)


I like the "ride" characteristics of the stock suspension because it rides nice but you give up handling for a "nice ride". So it makes sense if you really want to make your car handle you can go nuts and make it corner like a vette but the ride will be terrible. You will feel everything little crack in the road. If it's mostly a street car then I wouldn't go nuts.

Here is a link to very technical writeup on how to make your car handle: http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/suspension/Suspension.html

Here is a link to a page with many writeups on the suspension: http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/suspension/suspensionpage.html

The links are from the www.gnttype.org.

As far as the rear disk conversion goes, I know they make a kit and it isn't cheap. I don't know of a "bolt on" donor car. If you find one let me know.