Delorean 60MPH to 0 Brake distance and Time - anyone?

[Beachdrifter]

Hi all! Hope everyone had a nice holiday.

So it's been awhile since I posted. Still loving my Delorean after 15 yrs of ownership.

Recently, I replaced all 4 original brake lines with new DMC rubber hose replacements. I also replaced both front Calipers and new front pads. All this because I was actually experiencing the car veering to the left whenever i started to brake. Figured it was bad brake lines or sticking calipers. That is now fixed. I bled all calipers with a power bleeder to the point where I flushed the old fluid and replaced it with new. No air in the lines. The master cylinder was replaced with a DMC unit just like 2 yrs ago.

My new observation is the brake pedal is a bit softer than previously was. I have read other posts that say it is NORMAL for Delorean brake pedal to have about 2 inches of play before brakes start to engage -- that it is necessary, and it is exactly what i am experiencing now. Not typical of a modern car, but OK i guess for our 40yr old cars. I did test the brakes on a few panic stops from like 30-40 MPH to total stop. Brakes seemed to work pretty well, no veering and straight head on braking -- even screeched the tires a bit on a few stops! Total stopping time was about ~3 sec.

Now, i know that Road and Track 1981 test states stopping distance from 60 MPH to 0 is 158FT. Has anyone here actually tried to do this in a real life test? I couldn't find any videos on youtube. The retro "Motorweek" review of 1981 unfortunately didn't show these track tests in video (as typical was the case of their reviews at the time).

If anyone has,
What were your stopping distances and how long would it take to stop a Delorean from 60 to 0 in seconds?

Thanks for any insight!

[David T]

You might need a slight adjustment to the pushrod between the booster and the master cylinder. That will reduce the amount of pedal travel before the brakes start to "bite". Be careful, too much and the brakes won't release. I would "bed" the pads in well before trying to do performance (panic) braking or you can glaze the pads and the braking would become terrible. If the pedal is very soft it is either you still have air in the lines or the hoses swell too much under heavy braking. Have an assistant depress the brake pedal and watch one of the brake lines. If you see it noticeably expand under pressure, that is not good. The hoses with braided S/S will give you a stiffer brake pedal. A proper brake test also takes into account the road surface. You would be surprised how much quicker you can stop in a real emergency than in a test. Adrenalin will shorten your reaction time and give you more power to move that pedal to the floor. A test driver can stop quicker than you can so it is hard to actually compare your results to what is reported. Tires also affect the stopping distance. Old tires will not work like new ones and some tires are "stickier" than others and will stop better. In 1981 R & T had a new car with new NCT tires so it would be hard to replicate their test.

[Beachdrifter]

You might need a slight adjustment to the pushrod between the booster and the master cylinder. That will reduce the amount of pedal travel before the brakes start to "bite". Be careful, too much and the brakes won't release. I would "bed" the pads in well before trying to do performance (panic) braking or you can glaze the pads and the braking would become terrible. If the pedal is very soft it is either you still have air in the lines or the hoses swell too much under heavy braking. Have an assistant depress the brake pedal and watch one of the brake lines. If you see it noticeably expand under pressure, that is not good. The hoses with braided S/S will give you a stiffer brake pedal. A proper brake test also takes into account the road surface. You would be surprised how much quicker you can stop in a real emergency than in a test. Adrenalin will shorten your reaction time and give you more power to move that pedal to the floor. A test driver can stop quicker than you can so it is hard to actually compare your results to what is reported. Tires also affect the stopping distance. Old tires will not work like new ones and some tires are "stickier" than others and will stop better. In 1981 R & T had a new car with new NCT tires so it would be hard to replicate their test.

Thanks David for the reply. Good points.

Seeing that my calipers weren't the culprit to why my car was veering to the left during braking (was the bad brake hose which i replaced), I went ahead and re-installed my original (previously rebuilt) Girling front calipers. After installing and bleeding, it seemed the brake pedal returned to being a bit harder as it was before. Probably the aftermarket calipers I tried from Delorean Go had something to do with it; my experience with aftermarket-anything is it's never like the original. I think i will keep those as spares, but the rebuilt Girlings feel much better. The Delorean Go calipers worked overall, but resulted in a softer pedal feel. I'm assuming the calipers were the factor here, because in both cases I bled very well to remove as much air as possible.

Who knows really, but i will say if anyone has original Girling calipers , rebuild those and re-use rather than swapping for aftermarket ones.

[Josh]

Thanks David for the reply. Good points.

Seeing that my calipers weren't the culprit to why my car was veering to the left during braking (was the bad brake hose which i replaced), I went ahead and re-installed my original (previously rebuilt) Girling front calipers. After installing and bleeding, it seemed the brake pedal returned to being a bit harder as it was before. Probably the aftermarket calipers I tried from Delorean Go had something to do with it; my experience with aftermarket-anything is it's never like the original. I think i will keep those as spares, but the rebuilt Girlings feel much better. The Delorean Go calipers worked overall, but resulted in a softer pedal feel. I'm assuming the calipers were the factor here, because in both cases I bled very well to remove as much air as possible.

Who knows really, but i will say if anyone has original Girling calipers , rebuild those and re-use rather than swapping for aftermarket ones.

I find this information very interesting. Sorry to hear about the extra effort swapping back and fourth.