Your Experience with Whitby Power Brake Kit

[Davidbr_48]

I've decided I need power assist for the brakes on my Mk IV. It's a non-donor car with a Willwood pedal box, Coyote engine and power steering (from Mike Forte). The Whitby vacuum-assisted brakes seem a good choice -- but I'd like to hear from folks that installed this. Mainly concerned about how much boost they add -- right now my brakes (6-piston Wilwoods in front and 2-piston brakes in back, from FFR) need a lot of foot pressure to stop the car and are a safety hazard! Also interested to hear about problems installing, etc.

thanks - David / Tucson

[bansheekev]

1) Have you gone through the pad bedding procedure? They will be terrible before doing it.
2) Has the bias been properly dialed in? Will also have a large affect on braking performance.

A pad compound change may also get you where you want to be if these items have already been addressed. One thing to keep in mind is that it will require more pedal effort than your average daily driver. Shouldn't be scary but if you haven't ever driven a non-power brake car before it may take some getting used to.

Kevin


I've decided I need power assist for the brakes on my Mk IV. It's a non-donor car with a Willwood pedal box, Coyote engine and power steering (from Mike Forte). The Whitby vacuum-assisted brakes seem a good choice -- but I'd like to hear from folks that installed this. Mainly concerned about how much boost they add -- right now my brakes (6-piston Wilwoods in front and 2-piston brakes in back, from FFR) need a lot of foot pressure to stop the car and are a safety hazard! Also interested to hear about problems installing, etc.

thanks - David / Tucson

[mikiec]

There are a number of guys in Tucson that have converted to power assist brakes. Hopefully they will chime in.

[Mesa Mike]

You have a quality brake system. Have you talked to Wilwood? There is a really good company in PHX by the name of All Mustang Performance (AMP). Give them a call. They are very familiar with our cars and the braking system. They helped me out with "bad brakes" and identified my problem and it wasn't a new master cylinder or power assist brakes. I am running Mustang Cobra 13" calipers with 4 piston in front and T.B. Super coupe disc in the rear. Stops like it has power brakes but doesn't.

[BillJackson]

I built my car with manual brakes and never liked the pedal feel. Once I switched over to power I would never build another one without them. The swap to power is involved but worth every minute in my opinion. I have done it on three completed cars and 2 in the build stage. I never cut any access holes in the top of the footbox although it would help with swapping the pedal. Thats assuming that your pedal has been modified for manual brakes. There is a recent post with some pics of the modded pedal so check for that. The Whitby's kit is a great place to start, they have put everything you need in one kit. The only other thing I would suggest is the booster spacer from Lodestone Billetworks (forum vendor). This properly spaces out the booster for proper pedal heights. I also used it as a template for enlarging the hole in the front of the footbox. Thats probably the worst part of the job unless you have a real good quality metal hole saw. Good Luck with it, decreased pedal effort and increased confidence are your rewards.

[FAT-N-FAST]

I used the Whitby's kit and it works great no issue's installing would use it again.