brake bias bar

[chuck smith]

what is wrong with this picture?

[chuck smith]

[Steve C]

Chuck,

Take a look in the "HOW TO" section under brake bias.......

Looks as though you are missing collars that mount to ends of the tube passing through the pedal stock.

Seems you might have or had a clutch or brake fluid leak or weep from paint appearance around the pedal frame and floor.

Steve

[Jac Mac]

You need another nut to make that car safe to drive Toss that balance bar & get a decent Tilton/Willwood that uses proper threaded clevis's on the bar.

[Pat Buckley]

1. You need to be more careful about spilling brake fluid?

2. That whole bias arrangement needs to be sorted out.

[chuck smith]

no more tailgating untill I get this fixed. The fluid leak is now fixed but the patina remains

[Paul Thompson 'Hooligan']

If the clevis ends are not threaded, then as Jac MAc says, a nut is missing from the RHS. Also, they need moving towards each other on the threaded bar - as there is too much slop at the moment, allowing them to move to the positions shown, 1 up, 1 down. Doing this will remove a lot of slop, firm up the pedal and increase braking pressure available.

Finally, If the pivot point (ball shaped lump in tube of pedal) is too far off-centre to get then required bias, then the master cyl sizes need changing. The adjustment should only need to be wound a few turns in either direction, no wound fully to one end or the other.

For SVA in UK they need to be non-adjustable (or not readily) so bar normally needs locknuts and pinning.

[Lynn Miner]

Chuck

See photos below. You are missing the bias bar guides. All of the very early cars (like yours) are missing these. This is a serious safety issue . There are a number of other safety issues that need to be taken care of like defective tie rod ends that you must address also. I guess it's time for me post a list of all these issues. I have not done so to date because most of the dealers are taking care of these problems. This is obviously not the case with your car.

[Ross Nicol]

I think you should post the list immediately Lynn. Are there other safety issues on the list? That pedal box will never function properly without threaded clevises and the general quality of finish is terrible. How would you feel if an owner of one of these cars was killed while the dealers were attending to these unsafe areas?

Ross

[chuck smith]

Many of those other issues may have already been dealt with ,however I sure want to look into them. lynn has been very good about sharing any info on these cars and is certainly not responsable for making sure they are all taken care of on every car. SPF and the dealers have that responsibility and now that I know they exist, it is my job to get it taken care of.

[Lynn Miner]

Ross

This brings up a huge can of worms for me and anyone else making public statements about safety and will be the subject of a new thread of its own. I am not an SPF rep, dealer or have any interest in SPF beyond the fact that I own one. The early cars had a number of issues and the factory dealt with them as they came up. They continue to make changes even now just like virtually every other car manufacturer in the world. If you look at my "How To" posts you will see many references to "early car number" this or that. The dealers are supposed to "fix" the cars as they are delivered but many don't. This in itself is the topic on another thread.

When Lance Stander purchased SPF he opened up the floodgates for new dealerships to sign on. Under the old rules, the established dealers had protected territories and were all very competent and professional. Many of the new dealers are absolutely clueless and push the cars out the door as soon as they get them. I have personal experience in this matter so I know of what I speak. I have no intention of making those dealers public in this forum. You may think that to be a gutless position and you are correct. But you don't live in the USA where someone can sue your ass off for making what they perceive as a libel statement. Even if one is exonerated, you lose your house paying the legal bills to "win" your case . This situation got so bad that the two premier dealers in the US sold out because of the poor support supplied by SPF to the "old" dealers. There was even a law suit filed by a few of the original SPF dealers to try to rectify the situation. The law suit ended when the dealers gave up and sold out.

Yes there are other safety issues on early cars. The dealers are required to fix them but as noted many of the dealers aren't even aware there is a problem until someone like me tells them. I have known of these problems for over a year and was asked by certain dealers to keep my mouth shut and warned by others to do so.

I will post a list of problems to address in a separate thread.

Let the flaming begin !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[DaveM]

Lynn, thanks for all your help in informing us of issues with SPF's. Ideally SPF should be on top of all this. When they are not we really appreciate you and other owners bringing the issues and solutions to our attention. The design of this bias bar is a little strange. Certainly not the conventional Tilton type with threaded clevises.

[Lynn Miner]

Interesting comment Dave, the clevises on mine ARE threaded.......yours are not? The bias bar guides are in place to control the precession along the axis of the threaded rod. The lock nut I installed in my How To is to lock down the shaft so it does not move left or right (from vibration) changing the bias.

[Russ Noble]

Don't SPF's market themselves as 'continuation' GT40's with an authorised and licenced continuation chassis numbering system and charging premium prices for their cars?

I don't know for sure because I have never seen an original GT40, but I'd be very surprised if the original cars had nonthreaded clevises and the other failings that are apparent in the photos.

It's amazing the way some people get absolutely pedantic about reproducing 'original', and here we have a serious safety issue presumably brought about by departure from original, and and certainly departure from accepted practice with regard to something as fundamental and simple as balance bars.

I bet their door window catches and similar unimportant details are reproduced at great cost 'as per original' ! Go figure.....

So much for 'continuation'.......

[JimmyMac]

Russ,
This is the original configuration with threaded clevises but my lock nuts are missing in this shot.
I also machined the balance bar with opposite hand threads for quicker adjustment.

[Jac Mac]

Was thinking about this late last night, glad to see that others have chimed in. Rod ends will only work in a balance bar system if the 'ball' in the center is threaded & pinned to prevent rotation when adjustments are made. Limit stops as in Lynns pic are a help to prevent excessive tipping of the bar, but the main problem is the rod ends require nuts on both sides of them to make the system work. In the end it all becomes a bit messy & the system in Jimmy Macs pic with threaded clevis is better, requiring only one lock nut for a road car system or none if you have a remote in car balance adjuster with suitable detents etc.
In a 'normal' production car run this would be sufficient reason for a factory recall of all cars. I wouldnt want to standing in court trying to justify my reasons for installing such a system.

Jac Mac

[Jac Mac]

Originally Posted by JIMMYMAC

Russ,

I also machined the balance bar with opposite hand threads for quicker adjustment.

***** Might want to rethink that James- the principle requires that the center ball pivot should shift in relation to the clevis's- with LH/RH threads all that will happen is clevis centers will increase/decrease--- result, no change in bias *******

Jac Mac

[JimmyMac]

Jac,
I machined both threads and this one adjusted better on the day. I will give it another go however minding your advice.

[Dean Lampe]

I think these cars are suppose to be 90% accurate reproductions or something like that! This must be part of the 10% that SPF engineered.

Just kidding guys.