Anyone who has ever done a burn out can more than appreciate the benifits that a Line Lock can provide. Using a button to control the front brakes not only makes life easier on the rear brakes, but also makes control of the car much easier. Often times, the addition of a Line Lock can mean the differnce between winning and losing.

A Line Lock is an electronic solonoid that controls a valve which is in line with the front brakes. Normally, the valve is open and allows fluid to pass through to the front brakes as usual. However, while the front brakes are applied and the solonoid is activated, the valve closes to trap the fluid in the front brakes keeping them applied until the control is released. It's a simple process which requires a very straight forward install. Also, with its relative low cost, it's something that just about any racer should consider.

Where to start:
The first thing you will need to do is determine how you will route your brake lines. On rear wheel drive cars you will be working with the lines to the front brakes as these are the ones you will want to keep locked when you are doing your burn out. With most cars, the two front brake lines are joined at the proportioning valve or just after it. For these cars the install will be very easy as all you need to do is send the line from the master cylinder over to the input of the Line Lock, and then from the output of the Line Lock back down to the Proportioning block.

On other cars, such as the Fox Body Mustang, both front brake lines originally go directly to the master cylinder, although one line goes through the proportioning valve first. With these cars, you will need to plug off one of the two front brake connections on the master cylinder, usually the lower one. The remaining connection will then go over to the input of the Line Lock. From the output of the Line Lock, you will then have a few options. With some Line Locks, such as the Hurst Roll Control, you can use the body itself as a "T" to join the two front brake lines. The other option, especially for those not using a Hurst unit, will require the two front brake lines to join at some other point, either at or before the proportioning valve.

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A Line Lock can be as easy to wire up as you want it to be. If you want to keep it extremely simple, you can ground one wire of the solonoid, and run the other wire off to a switch inside the car, perhaps on the shifter. However, if you want the best results, you will want to use a relay to control the power to it.

On the other hand, if you want to get a little more technical with your install, you may want to do something a little different. Many of my installs use a single switch to turn on and off all the accessories I want to use at the track. This mode switch handles all the relays that control any of the other "race" accessories, such as the Line Lock, Nitrous System, Shift Lite, etc... I also like to wire up the Line Lock to work off the factory horn button.


When the switch is off, the horn works like it normally does. When the mode switch is on, the horn button activates the Line Lock. This way you don't have a ton of switches all over the car, and it keeps the install looking clean. It also puts the control of the Line Lock in a very convient place, the horn button. This way you can activate it with the hand that would already be on the steering wheel, while allowing the other hand to stay on the shifter. Either way, I find this method to be a great way to handle things.