[Tommy]

I'm no expert, but I'll take a shot at the brake balance bar question. Unless the bar is way off to one side, making the rear brakes do all the work, I don't think it would cause a hard pedal with little braking action. A more likely cause is either a mismatch between the master cylinder diameter and the wheel caliper diameters (e.g., MC diameter is too large), or too short a lever arm on the brake pedal. Either of these conditions can cause the driver to have to exert very high pedal pressure to cause enough movement in the calipers to stop the car.