I know the mk1 and mk2 golf suffered from this issue with the linkage and you used to be able to buy a "super brakes" kit from the likes of autocavan back in the late 80's.It was a beefed up version of the linkage abd gave a firmer pedal.Although if anyone has ever driven a mk2 polo you will know that they were even worse with a soft pedal and no feel what so ever.
True but for slightly different reasons. The early Golfs had drum brakes and no servo so you had to try and break the seat backs to stop. Later ones incl GTi`s had tiny servos and small calipers which werent very good so the same scenario.
Mk 1 Golfs used a bellcrank from the pedal to change the motion through 90 degrees and then reversed it at the servo (a la 944)
Autocavan sought to improve leverage and reducing lateral load also by instead rotating the (thicker) rod.
The lateral loading (between cranks) is held by the bulkhead but point loading is the issue. Common beliefs suggest the Golfs suffer from adverse movement with the brakes but I personally havent come across much evidence of this, instead the bulkheads are stress cracked/fractured by the clutch cable and a strengthening plate is a common repair - you can see my Golf has had this done in the photos.
On the 944 it is the CLUTCH movement that fractures the bulkhead. I dont want to worry you all but I`ll bet you can see the bulkhead move below the reservoir when the clutch is used, this is a far more common issue on 944`s than people realise and adds some vagueness about pedal pressure.
An efficient servo and a good mechanical hydraulic ratio engineers out such issues and raises brake pressure for a given pedal push ie: I have fitted a larger servo and master cylinder to the Golf with larger brakes and even linear pressure stops it brilliantly with none of the issues surrounding.
A good mod is to utilise the Autocavan methods but modern brakes negate this in my view.
Here`s a couple of photos of my Golf with the old engine out before re-building to show you what the braking linkage looks like lies buried in a 944 engine bay - the rod has reverse threads each end with a lock nut to dial out slack.
