Granada Swap Issues On A 66

The Shemdogg

Active Member
Mar 15, 2016
137
23
38
san jose CA
Hello!

Ive got a 66 coupe v8 car that im doing the granada swap on. I got it all together and have no front brakes at all just rear. Upgraded the suspension and steering too while i had stuff apart. I got a setup offa craigslist that came w complete spindles, the mc/booster, and the prop valve. I got new bearings/seals, rotors, calipers, hoses, and pads. No front brakes at all. Ive bled the mc and the lines many times in the correct order. I have the calipers in the right postions to bleed. Pedal just goes almost to the floor where the rear brakes catch. There are no fluid leaks n everything is tight. prop valve is hooked up correctly and working, i can bleed all 4. Did it myself w the vacuum bleeder and old school with the wife pushing the brakes. Neither has worked n im stumped. Almost ready to take it to the shop.

Im thinking bad prop valve or mc. On a long shot- the new pads are super thick and the caliper sleeve is recessed so far its flush w the body. Any chance its in so far the fluid cant push it out? It looks like it may be so far in its covering the bleeder inside the caliper body. Seals are good and i took the calipers off and they do compress, but theres no contact w the rotor. Ive went back n forth in the driveway testing the brakes.

Idears?

thanks
shem
 
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Just a guess, but I suspect the master cylinder. Either that or you hooked your lines up to the wrong sides of the master cylinder. But regardless, I would put money on that being the culprit. BTW, I like the T-Top conversion! Almost look like they belong!
 
Hello!

On a long shot- the new pads are super thick and the caliper sleeve is recessed so far its flush w the body. Any chance its in so far the fluid cant push it out? It looks like it may be so far in its covering the bleeder inside the caliper body. Seals are good and i took the calipers off and they do compress, but theres no contact w the rotor. Ive went back n forth in the driveway testing the brakes.

Idears?

thanks
shem

That caliper piston (sleeve as you cal it) is made to sit flush in the caliper and it cannot block the fluid because the fluid entry port is recessed and cant be blocked.
a couple questions.

- Did you get plenty of fluid out of the front calipers when "old school" bleeding? Nice strong bubble free stream?

- Assuming your rear brakes are drum - Did you adjust the shoes till you get a slight drag on the drum when rotating the drum by hand? ** This sounds like a good possibility due to the amount of travel you have and then they catch**
--- Also make sure your parking brake is completely released and there is no pressure on the cables before adjusting the rear brake shoes. I can't tell you how important this is because the parking brake pulls the shoe away from the wheel cylinder and can cause this excessive pedal travel before "catching"

- When you connected the pushrod to your pedal did it just slide on or did you have to push the rod forward in order to line it up with the pin on the brake pedal?

- Did you bench bleed the MC first?

- Are your calipers new or rebuilt?

Yes you could have a bad MC but before you buy another just verify your calipers are not frozen by taking your line off at the caliper and blowing compressed air in the bore and seeing if they move ( assuming you have a air compressor)
 
Good advice by tos and thanks for the compliment.

I was also working under the assumption that all of the other related parts are checked and in proper working order. The reason I say master cylinder is that you say you got this kit off of Craigslist. Who knows what the seller threw together? It may be legit, it may not be. But he possibly had the wrong master cylinder with too small of a bore to operate the caliper pistons which is why I said I'd start there (given that everything else is in working condition). It could also be frozen caliper pistons, so if you haven't, check them to make sure they are free. Just because everything is new doesn't mean everything is good.
 
Thanks for the replies fellas!

Bench bled the mc a cupla times already, everything off cl was oem granada stuff. I only used the spindles, dust shields, and caliper bracket, everythings else is new except the booster and thats definitely working.

I took the calipers off the rotor and pressed the pedal a few times and they do compress so they should be free/ theyre new

Ive pulled about a quart of fluid thru this thing(in the right order) thinking I still had air in the lines. Prolly about 5-6 times already

There is no parking brake right now(havent got to that one yet)

I did not adjust the rear shoes

The granada booster has a pushod in it that doesnt come out easy, and the pedal was at the floor w that pushrod. So I cut the pushrod off the old mc and welded it to the boosters rod. That was the brake pedal is above the gas a lil bit like new cars.

Im going to throw a napa mc at it. Their website shows one for power and one for manual brakes. Maybe the kids at kragen gave me the wrong one lol.

Well ill have an answer about this time tomorrow after work! lol

Thanks
shem
 
Can you post pics? I would like to see a pic of the pad gap between the rotor and a pic of the booster before you install the new MC.
See if you can find the specs on your MC bore to see what size it is. You want the largest bore to deliver as much fluid as possible.

So the rear shoes were already there and not new? I would still check their adjustment either way. Do you have a visible gap between the front pads and the rotors? one thing to keep in mind is when you bleed with the vacuum method it doesn't self adjust the front calipers as it does with the old pump and hold bleeding, in fact if you have a restriction somewhere like the prop valve you could actually suck that piston back into the caliper with the vacuum method.

How far did the piston come out when you checked them. Did you check both calipers?
If your new MC doesn't fix the issue I would go back to the pump and hold method and watch the pads each time until you close that gap. Each time it will get a little closer to the rotor until it closes that gap completely. If it seems the piston draws back into the caliper when releasing the brakes then the o-ring inside the caliper is binding which can happen if these things have been on the shelf for years without being used.
 
New mc didnt help, I even checked the length of the booster pushrod and its fine. vacuum bled and then did the pump and hold. I got good amounts of fluid shooting out and no air.

The new pads are so thick there is no gap between them n the rotor, they do compress, i can see the wheels move when I hit the brakes.

I checked the calipers n moved em out about an inch.

rear brakes have not been touched and work

Ok new mc did help, I have effort from the front brakes. Got halfway thru this post n went to check the pedal n its much better. I was takin wifeys word for it but checked meselfs and I def see an improvement. Went back n forth in the driveway a few times dragging the brakes. Front left is grabbing, front right is grabbing at the top n bottom of the pad not in the center. Theres surface rust on the rotor and theres a ring of rust in the center of the contact patch.

I thinks I have a bad passenger side caliper too. Ive never really run into bad parts new, throws off the troubleshooting process bogtime lol. So new caliper tomorrow from napa and hopefully thisll work. Itll be going to a shop for the alignment anyways, so ill have em check out the brakes.

I didnt notice much difference in the pedal, then again I dont know what its supposed to feel like w power disc brakes. Before, Id stand up on the brakes and the car would just pull right(hey it got me outta the way lol). now I could blow on the pedal lightly and the car will stop. So I guess its pretty much working. I think.

Thanks for the input and advice folks, much appreciated

shemmy
 
OK took the car for an alignment and brake bleed. Shop bled the brakes and there was no air and they dont know why theres so much pedal travel, mustang shop didnt know either but recommended isolating front and rear with a plug in the mc and see how the pedal is. He also said the granada prop valve is just a distribution block

Right now the pedal goes almost to the floor before it catches and The wheels wont lock up. Ill find some plugs and start testing, may be awhile works picked up

shem
 
OK I think I got this figured out. When all logical steps have failed, start doing illogical things lol. I pulled the rear drums and they were adjusted fine. i adjusted them to drag just a hair and I have some pedal. Cant tighten em anymore so i pulled the master off the booster and unscrewd the rod so its pushing more on the master n bolted it back up. Even more pedal now, pedal catches about halfway now and wheels lock up. New steering, suspension, n brakes are sweet! feels like im driving a go cart.

Thanks for the input folks
shem