How thin are your rotors. Turning the rotors down would have increased the volume of brake fluid in the calipers which is somewhat compressible. Also, the new hoses may be softer allowing greater expansion when the brakes are applied.
One last comment. I put disc brakes from a 1972 Fury on a 1966 Newport. The Fury was power brakes and the Newport was manual brakes. I ended up with manual disc brakes. They operated very much like the way you discribe. They were great brakes if you could apply enough force. Maybe your booster has failed.
----- Original Message -----
From: joestill1@xxxxxxxxxxx
To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: IML: 1973 Brakes are "wrong"
Date: Tue, 30 May 2006 15:53:21 +0000
Kenyon:Coming from someone who has YET to feel good about the brakes on my 1961 Crown, I am probably least likely to offer suggestions but being least likely has never stopped me before.Could it be the master cylinder? Perhaps it needs a rebuild?--
Joe-------------- Original message --------------
From: Kenyon Wills <imperialist1960@xxxxxxxxx>
> I replaced the entire brake system on the 1973.
>
> Here's what I did"
>
> Booster: 3 years ago - few miles since.
>
> Brakes worked well and were aggressive when you
> stomped on them.
>
> I replaced the following, mainly to get the 35 year
> old rubber soft hoses and seals off of the car, and a
> new, true rotor onto it:
>
>
> New:
>
> Calipers & Pads
> Wheel cylinders & shoes
> Master cylinder
> Soft lines: 2F 1R
> Turned both rotors
> Turned both drums
> NOS proportioning valve
>
> =================
> FYI, the 1970-73 Rotors are apparently NLA - I had to
> source used ones.
> = ====== ==========
>
> So:
>
> The car now resists stoping. It stops, but requires
> almost double the pedal pressure and won't lock the
> wheels unless both feet are on the pedal and really
> jamming on it, and even then it's not that good a
> response.
>
> All 4 corners bleed OK, and none seem to be
> restricted, as I'd suspect that a crimped line would
> cause.
>
> Also: when the brake is applied, the pedal feels
> better in the top 40% of the swing until it seems to
> "hit" something and gets stiffer - the braking action
> seems to have two stages. I paid someone (I can't
> believe that I did that) to bleed and check. They
> said that the rear brakes are coming on first and
> that's what I'm feeling. I like the place, but the
> only mechanic that does work on older cars (and I like
> him very much) is Vietnamese, and is conseque ntly a
> guy that is a little under 5 feet tall and he's
> uncomfortable driving the car and does not seem to be
> capable of testing it and providing a better answer
> than that the rear brakes are engaging first and I'm
> riding on the drums and not the discs.
>
> Before I go hunting for a defective/incorrect part in
> the system, which I did with the NOS, $300
> proportioning valve, and start tracing every metal
> line in the car's chassis, is there anything else that
> I could be missing?
>
> I feel silly for asking, because every stinking part
> is new besides the brake pedal, but maybe someone has
> something in their past that might help?
>
> Again - the brake booster is newer, worked great
> before I laid a wrench to everything else, and when I
> kill the engine, I can feel the vacuum disappear,
> although it seems like perhaps the diff erence is less
> than I get on the two 1970's that I drove for
> comparison yesterday.
>
>
> Thoughts?
>
> I'm sorta thinking booster, but that's a guess and I'm
> reluctant to blame it because it's relatively new and
> has good lines to it.
>
> Kenyon Wills
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