having problems getting hand brakes to work

[LiveWire]

Since the C-Moore buggy gets significant influence from the Formula Cross/Extreme formerly built by Drakart then Hawk, I assume it is using the same Wilwood 4 piston calipers in the rear and small 2 piston calipers in the front with Goodridge stainless lines. I know of multiple people running Pilot yokes on the Formula Cross and Extreme and have not heard of issues with braking power. I just recently drove one and it did not stand out as having poor braking. The Formula Cross uses the smallest piston size available in the DynaLite series. If C-Moore went to a larger piston size, that could be a problem. As someone else asked, are the levers hitting the yoke?

[Islander]

I believe that braided stainless steel lines to replace the rubber ones are what you are hearing about to firm up the braking. And yes, they do work a lot better then rubber lines, but I don't know if it would firm up the brakes as much as Stress needs though.

[stress]

A normal C-moore buggy uses 1 master cylinder that has a 0.75 dia piston to drive both the front and back calipers. I am using 1 Pilot master cylinder to work the front brakes and 1 Pilot master cylinder to drive the back brake. The Pilot master cylinder has 0.5 dia piston. When I put the brakes on the the brake lever moves in about 1/3 of its total travel and stops and is firm. So it sounds like I need to go to a smaller piston in the master cylinder. I would like to solve my problem with the master cylinders and not have to go to different capilers, because the capilers have very little room right now. My front capilers each 2 pistons, my back capiler has 4 pistons.

[masterfabr]

I think you're on the right track.

[LiveWire]

Originally Posted by stress

A normal C-moore buggy uses 1 master cylinder that has a 0.75 dia piston to drive both the front and back calipers. I am using 1 Pilot master cylinder to work the front brakes and 1 Pilot master cylinder to drive the back brake. The Pilot master cylinder has 0.5 dia piston. When I put the brakes on the the brake lever moves in about 1/3 of its total travel and stops and is firm. So it sounds like I need to go to a smaller piston in the master cylinder. I would like to solve my problem with the master cylinders and not have to go to different capilers, because the capilers have very little room right now. My front capilers each 2 pistons, my back capiler has 4 pistons.

Your rear caliper has 4 1.380" diameter pistons. There are two calipers with larger pistons, identical mounting and setup for the same thickness rotor. They have 1.62" and 1.75" calipers respectfully. For the rear brakes, I think that is your best bet because 1 $140 bolt on caliper and you are done. Making the master cylinder larger will be no where as easy.

Your front calipers have 2 1" pistons. There are calipers with 1.12" pistons that have the same mounting dimensions. They do have threaded mounting holes instead of plain bore, but you could drill the thread out. They also have a an M10 x 1.25 inlet vs. 1/8NPT assuming yours have not already been modified to be 10x1.25. If not, you would need new brake lines or adapters. Once again, I would think this would also be much easier than trying to fab up different master cylinders.

Also, the area of 2 .5" circles is already less than that of one .75" circle. The problem may lie more in that the levers have less leverage against the pistons then the foot peddle does. It may be possible to drill a large hole for the lever pivots that is offset closer to the piston giving more leverage. You would then use a larger pivot pin as well.

[stress]

I spend all night looking for master cylinders with a smaller piston than the Pilot and can not find anything. LiveWire the calipers you are talking about with the bigger pistons are they Wilwood calipers? I was wanting to know so I can go to the right companys website to look for the calipers you are talking about.

[LiveWire]

Yes, Wilwood.