Followup to rear disc conversion

[Greg Baxter <gbaxter@istar.ca>]

Last week, I bored you all with my story of woe regarding the swap to rear 
discs on my pet 82 8v. I will not bore you much further, except to say that 
I completed the swap yesterday, and most everything seems to be working 
well. Of course, I have a few questions:

The parking brake doesn't work now. The cables seem stuck, and pulling hard 
on the lever resulted in a broken lever. :( Actually, it's just the little 
metal lip that holds the bracket that the cables screw into. I suppose that 
I'll now have to replace the lever (Wrecking yard hounds: which cars do we 
share this lever with?) After I get the lever replaced, what do you all 
suggest I try to get the parking brake working? Also, after sitting for a 
long while, the discs themselves became quite corroded, and the backing 
plates were bent to hell. I'll be looking for some new (to me, at least) 
backing plates when I take the discs off to have them machined... After 
taking it out for a few runs, the corrosion *sort of* wore off, but it's 
still quite evident. My worry is that the brakes aren't actually doing any 
work, and the improvement that I'm feeling is due to the stainless steel 
lines and fresh fluid. Is my concern valid, or is it normal for the discs 
to stay 'dirty' for a while? Also, after parking the car after a good 
drive, I let it sit for a few minutes, and then decided to check the 
temperatures of the discs themselves. The front vented discs were a great 
deal hotter than the rear solid discs. This seems to confirm my original 
concern that the rear discs aren't really doing much.

FWIW, this is my setup: Front Vented 9.4" discs, Metalmaster pads, rear 
stock 16v discs, whatever pads that are on there (in decent shape, but will 
be replaced once the funds are back...) stainless steel lines, DOT 4 fluid. 
I haven't upgraded the master cylinder, and have left my stock 
proportioning valves. Some that I spoke with told me that the rears may 
lock up without the prop. valves, but as I said before, I think that the 
rears aren't doing enough...

Thanks again,


Greg
82 8v
91 Jetta

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