5 Lug Convo finished. I have no brakes. HELP!

5LugFoxFanatic

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I just got done finishing up the odds and ends on my 5 lug convo on my 86. I installed new parking brake cables and gutted the proportioning valve. I followed the directions that Matt90GT has on his website about turning the adj. pro. por valve in, then out and then 4 turns. I blead the brakes and with the car off, I get a nice hard pedal, but when I turn the car on, the pedal goes to the floor. I went for a test drive and I have to push the pedal to the floor, and even then, the car barely stops. What could the culprit be? Why I am not getting a nice pedal? Should I pressure bleed my brakes? I still have to get an alignmet this monday so I would like to get these fixed by then.

I have the SN95 front and rear disc brake setup with dual pot 99 PBR's in front. I do not think I have any leaks as of yet. Help me out guys!
 
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Mmmmmmm Nice pedal when the car isnt running you say? But when the motor is running the pedal gets bad, try checking all your vaccum lines making sure you havent left something loose or accidentially pulled somethin apart, thats about all of a suggestion I have
 
To properly bleed the rear brakes you have to turn the proportioning valve all the way IN. Then when you are done, set it back to 4 turns in from all the way out.

here's a home pressure bleeder that works wonders and is chaep to make...

Garden Sprayer Pressure Bake Bleeder

1 each pump type garden sprayer, 1 - 1 ½ gallon capacity (size doesn’t matter much, it just has to be cheap and small enough to be easy to work with)
6-10 feet 3/8” clear plastic tubing
1 each ¼” brass pipe tee
1 each ¼” pipe to 3/8: hose adapter
1 each pressure gauge 0-60 PSI or so – all you’ll ever need is 5- 10 PSI, so the gauge range doesn’t have to be high.
1 each large rubber stopper – this is the hard part to find. It may take some searching to find one that is a snug push fit to the inside of the filler port on the master cylinder. You can use silicone rubber to seal a brass fitting to an old master cylinder cap, but they tend to leak too much.
Home Depot has some ¼” brass pipe stock that is continuously threaded in the electric lamp repair department, along with the brass nuts that go with it. This is better than a pipe nipple, since the nuts can be used to secure the pipe in the cap or stopper.
OR if you can’t find the threaded pipe stock,
1 each ¼” nipple, 1 ½”- 2” long

The rubber stopper needs a hole drilled in it for the ¼” pipe nipple or threaded pipe stock. After you drill the hole, use some silicone gasket sealer to seal the pipe nipple as you push it into the rubber stopper. If you used the threaded pipe stock, use the nuts to secure the stock into the stopper.

If you can’t find a suitable rubber stopper, an old master cylinder cap can be used. Drill a ½” hole in the center for the pipe fitting. Cut the brass pipe stock to about 1”- 1 ½” long, the exact length isn’t too important. Push it through the hole in the master cylinder cap and thread one nut on top of the pipe stock where it sticks though the cap. Put another nut on the other side of the cap to lock the pipe stock in place. Apply some silicone rubber gasket sealer to both sides and when it is dry, screw the ¼” pipe that sticks out of the top of the cap into the tee.

Remove the sprayer hose and wand from the garden sprayer. You may find it easier just to cut the sprayer hose off short and connect it to the 3/8” plastic tubing. The idea is that the 3/8” tubing connects to the pickup tube inside the sprayer in a reliable, leak proof fashion. Another alternative is to remove the spray nozzle from the end of the spray wand and connect the 3/8” tubing to the wand. This leaves the hand valve in place and may be useful to start/stop the flow of brake fluid.

The 3/8” plastic tubing connects to the pipe tee using a push on hose barb type adapter. The pipe tee has one port for the gauge, one for the 3/8” hose and the other to connect to the rubber stopper or master cylinder cap that you modified.

Fill the pump sprayer with a quart of brake fluid. Set the garden sprayer on the ground and screw the pump handle down tight, and pump until brake fluid fills the plastic tubing. Then put the modified stopper or master cylinder cap on the master cylinder and pump slowly to make sure that nothing leaks or pops loose. No leaks, continue pumping until you get 5-10 PSI. Put a 6”-12” length of clear plastic tubing on the bleeder ports. Then open the bleeder ports on the wheel cylinders one at a time and bleed until the bubbles are gone. I use a 2 liter soda bottle with a coat hanger to catch the fluid . DO NOT REUSE THE OLD BRAKE FLUID. Repeat the process until you have finished all 4 wheels. You will have to pump the sprayer several times to maintain the 5-10 PSI needed to do the job. When finished bleeding, loosen the pump handle to relieve the pressure, remove the stopper/modified master cylinder cap and test the pedal.
 
raginbul469 said:
u probably have a bad vacuum line or something thats the only thing that makes sense

Hmmm, a few replies have gone in that direction however.....

If he were having a vacuum problem with the booster, would this not give the same type of feeling as if the motor was not running......

If it were truly a vacuum issue, you would have the same type of high hard pedal that you are feeling with the engine off. I have done plenty of race cars and can tell you from first hand experience, if the mc is not bled properly you are going to end up with the exact problem you are having.

You do not need to remove the master to bench bleed, you can do it on the car. If you do not get this done properly, you can go through gallons of bf without affecting anything..

And yes, the proportioning valve should be full open when bleeding the rest of the car. Always bleed the longest line first, and then work your way to the shortest line.

BTW If anyone would like to know why I freely give tech info..

Ford Master
Nissan Master
Honda Master
ASE Master