Wilwood Pedal Box/Master Cyl Questions

[BUDFIVE]

Friends, I’m enjoying my build and will soon fill the brake system, bleed and make first adjustments. I have a Mark IV complete kit manufactured November 2023 with the Wilwood pedal box and Master cylinders. I read the Wilwood documentation and watched their video but still don’t feel I understand the balance bar. I’ve seen a lot of related questions on the forum so maybe this will help others too. I marked up the below picture to reference with questions.
1) Is there a threaded pivot ball (B) where I’ve drawn it in the picture?
2) If #1 is yes, When the through rod (A) is turned, does this move the pivot ball and bias brake pressure more toward one MC and away from the other?
3) The MC rods (C) are adjustable in length at the Clevis with a lock nut. If you adjust one longer, the other is shortened by
the same to maintain the same pedal free play?
4) What is the effect of adjusting the Front MC rod (C) longer than the Rear MC rod? Does this provide more travel by the Front MC piston and therfore move more volume of fluid? Or more pressure?

I hope these questions get a discussion going which helps really understand. Thanks for the help.
196067

[phils88gt]

Friends, I’m enjoying my build and will soon fill the brake system, bleed and make first adjustments. I have a Mark IV complete kit manufactured November 2023 with the Wilwood pedal box and Master cylinders. I read the Wilwood documentation and watched their video but still don’t feel I understand the balance bar. I’ve seen a lot of related questions on the forum so maybe this will help others too. I marked up the below picture to reference with questions.
1) Is there a threaded pivot ball (B) where I’ve drawn it in the picture?
2) If #1 is yes, When the through rod (A) is turned, does this move the pivot ball and bias brake pressure more toward one MC and away from the other?
3) The MC rods (C) are adjustable in length at the Clevis with a lock nut. If you adjust one longer, the other is shortened by
the same to maintain the same pedal free play?
4) What is the effect of adjusting the Front MC rod (C) longer than the Rear MC rod? Does this provide more travel by the Front MC piston and therfore move more volume of fluid? Or more pressure?

I hope these questions get a discussion going which helps really understand. Thanks for the help.
196067

1) Yes
2) Yes, the bearing moves inside the pedal.
3) You really should set them equal with the ball centered. When you do that the pushrod length mostly effects the pedal height.

Look at this tilton video if it doesn't make sense

https://youtu.be/ISLqGf0sMX0?si=T8QQ1T3R_31c3KQA

[Dgc333]

Turning the rod will move the ball inside the pedal arm closer to one mc or the other to adjust the bias. You should start with this centered until you start driving the car. Wilwood sells a remote adjuster that mounts to the dash so you can adjust the bias toward the front or rear brakes on the fly.

Threading the rods in and out of the clevis adjusts the height of the pedal. Also, since the front calipers typically have larger pistons or more pistons than the rear calipers the front mc should have more rod exposed. Once you have the system fully bled with heavy pressure on the brake pedal the balance bar should be even. If the front mc strokes further and the balance bar winds up uneven you will need to unscrew that rod so they are even under braking. It is OK if they are uneven with your foot off the brake as long as they are even under heavy braking. Note: at no time should either clevis contact the the pedal arm. If they do you will need to remove the MC from the clevis and spin the clevis on the balance bar for more clearance.

I have Mustang Cobra brakes on my car and the front mc rod has about 1/4" more thread exposed than the rear.

[CraigS]

Yes there is a spherical bearing inside the pedal. It is a slip fit in the pedal. It is fixed on the adjuster rod and the rod is threaded through the clevises. So, as you turn the rod, it moves one way or the other and carries the bearing with it. If you rotate the rod so you see more and more of it at the top you will exert more pressure on the front MC. Once on the road w/ the adjustment centered drive the car and go through the pad break-in process. Now you can start adjusting the front to rear bias. I like to keep this at 40mph or a little less on a road w/ good pavement and minimal crown. Start cranking more and more rear bias in until the rears lock on hard braking. The first time that happens it can be a bit exciting so you will see why I suggest staying around 40. Once the rears lock, move the adjuster 1/4 turn toward the front MC and test. Keep making these tiny adjustments until the fronts lock barely ahead of the rears. BTW I like to drive a mile or 3 between brake tests to allow everything to cool. As you get the bias perfected in good road conditions the nice thing is that, in anything less than ideal conditions, the fronts will always lock first so you won't spin the car inadvertently.

[BUDFIVE]

Phils88gt
Thanks. I’ll start with it centered. Video helps.

DGC333
Thanks. I too have cobra 2-piston front calipers, and 13” single piston rears. After the brakes are bled, I’ll adjust the rods so the balance bar rod is perpindicular to the master cylinders with heavy pressure.

CraigS
Thanks, after bleeding, adjusting the master cylinder to clevis rods, and breaking in the brakes, I’ll adjust the bias pivot so the rears just lock first then back off until the fronts are locking first.

Guys, thanks this really helps.

[Dgc333]

Phils88gt
Thanks. I’ll start with it centered. Video helps.

DGC333
Thanks. I too have cobra 2-piston front calipers, and 13” single piston rears. After the brakes are bled, I’ll adjust the rods so the balance bar rod is perpindicular to the master cylinders with heavy pressure.

CraigS
Thanks, after bleeding, adjusting the master cylinder to clevis rods, and breaking in the brakes, I’ll adjust the bias pivot so the rears just lock first then back off until the fronts are locking first.

Guys, thanks this really helps.

FWIW, the Cobra Mustang brakes are 13" in the front verse the 11.5" standard Mustang GT rotors. The calipers are different too, use different pads and have larger pistons. The rear Cobra Mustang brakes have 11.65" vented rotors verse 10.5" solid rotors on a GT Mustang. The Cobra Mustang rear calipers are the same as a GT but have different brackets. The Cobra pads have a different part number than the GT with the only difference being the thickness of the friction material, thinner to fit over the wider vented rotor.

[BUDFIVE]

Yes-I have 13” 2004 Mustang Cobra dual piston (Powerstop KC1304C26) and 2015+ Mustang GT 13” rears (Powerstop K681226).