brakes a bit mushy, bleed mc how?

[NFGTragedy]

I did a 5 lug swap with the 95 front spindle/brakes and I had the brakes apart for some time and now that they are back together I bled the brakes but they still seem not ... right? They seem a bit mushy still but not overall horrible. The brakes hold the car from moving and stop it as best as I can tell (not driven over 15mph yet) but I know its stiffer as a stock setup and I'm looking more for a stiffer brake. I was just curious if I need to maybe bleed the MC? If so how do I do that? If its not that then what else should I look at to get a bit more stiffer brake pedal feel.

--I have the stock fox GT booster/MC with the 95 front brakes and fox rear drums.

 

[Reed]

If you didn't disassemble the booster or MC you shouldn't have to bleed the MC at all. I would just try bleeding the brakes once more. Have a buddy do the bleeding while you pump the brake and add more fluid.

I did it this way with my dad. When we started I could hold the pedal to the floor. My dad would tighten up the bleed nipple every so often until I could feel the pedal was stiff as hell. Good luck!

 

[Shakerhood]

Turn the Knob all the way in on your Adjustable Prop Valve when bleeding as it will allow you to get all the air out of the rear lines!

 

[NFGTragedy]

If you didn't disassemble the booster or MC you shouldn't have to bleed the MC at all. I would just try bleeding the brakes once more. Have a buddy do the bleeding while you pump the brake and add more fluid.

I did it this way with my dad. When we started I could hold the pedal to the floor. My dad would tighten up the bleed nipple every so often until I could feel the pedal was stiff as hell. Good luck!

I did this with my uncle for awhile... It wasn't letting anymore air out just alot of fluid. Comparing the pedal to his 89 notch my pedal still seems a bit softer. Maybe it has to do with the 95 calipers? I dunno. The Booster/MC sat for like a year without fluid in it though... I'm not sure if that makes a difference? If it does then how do you bleed the mc?

Turn the Knob all the way in on your Adjustable Prop Valve when bleeding as it will allow you to get all the air out of the rear lines!

I have the stock fox drums so I don't have an adjustable prop valve.

 

[Reed]

I'm not sure if it makes a difference either, but if you'd like to go at it, it shouldn't hurt anything. You will need to buy a kit, they are fairly cheap. You screw in the line adapters and run plastic tubes from the adapters to route the fluid back into the resevoir.

Here are some better instructions:
http://www.superchevy.com/technical/chassis/brakes/0509sc_bench/

And an example of a kit:
http://www.midwayautosupply.com/detailedproductdescription.asp?2273

In that example the MC is out of the car, you can also do it with the MC in the car like I did with my new MC. Just disconnect the steel lines, attach the bleed kit and pump the brake slow and steady until the bubbles are gone. If it has really dried out it might take quite a few pumps to get all the bubbles out. Good luck!

 

[NFGTragedy]

I wonder if anyone knows if its a thing I should do with it being off for that long

 

[SVT32VDOHC]

Just finished the swap last night. I used 94-95 spindles with 99-04 calipers,brackets,lines. I kept the stock 92 GT booster I put in there when I did the motor/trans swap.

My brakes stopped OK last night. I wasn't too happy...but this morning they were MUCH better. The pedal doesn't go down as far as last night, and it just feels better overall. I think just that one heat cycle that went through, is what did it. We will see tonight how she acts after cooling off all day, while it sits at work.

Go out and drive is 10-15 miles in stop and go traffic. It should clear up, if not try bleeding them again before spending more money.

 

[Mavrick]

I wonder if anyone knows if its a thing I should do with it being off for that long

Unless you've ran the MC dry of fluid, then there is no reason to bleed it.

 

[tunedin302]

You have a couple options if you believe the Mc is the problem. First, you can take the MC out of the car and bench bleed it. Essentially, you would bolt it to a bench and take a screwdriver to push in the cylinder. You must take the output lines and redirect them into the reservoir. You are essentially making a circle with fluid. Use the screwdriver to simulate the booster rod in order to circulate the fluid through the reservoir until the air bubbles dissappear. Second, you can get a pressure bleeder and set it to about 20psi and do the entire system.

Since you MC had fluid in it at one time I may question if the seals are okay as a result of sitting so long w/o fluid. This would essentially not put as much pressure through the brake lines since it is allowing some to get by the seals. Good luck.

 

[NFGTragedy]

Unless you've ran the MC dry of fluid, then there is no reason to bleed it.

I didn't run it dry of fluid... it just sat for a year where the fluid managed to disappear. So in a sense it had no fluid for some time. I'll try bleeding it again and see if that helps. I mean it does stop the car and all so it's not horrible. I can lock the fronts up enough to hold the car when powerbraking but it just doesn't feel like stock. I prefer a stiffer pedal then a mushier pedal thats all.

 

[Shakerhood]

I didn't run it dry of fluid... it just sat for a year where the fluid managed to disappear. So in a sense it had no fluid for some time. I'll try bleeding it again and see if that helps. I mean it does stop the car and all so it's not horrible. I can lock the fronts up enough to hold the car when powerbraking but it just doesn't feel like stock. I prefer a stiffer pedal then a mushier pedal thats all.

If the Fluid just "Disappeared" and never showed up on the ground, then it leaked into your Booster and you have a Booster full of Brake Fluid!

 

[NFGTragedy]

If the Fluid just "Disappeared" and never showed up on the ground, then it leaked into your Booster and you have a Booster full of Brake Fluid!

Well the booster/mc was outside in a covered area but who knows where the fluid could have gone... I doubt it went into the booster. Most likely it just slowly dripped onto the ground. I didn't really pay much attention to it since I had other things on my mind like swapping motors and what not.

 

[old_blue]

I vote bleeding it a few more times. Air can get trapped in quite a few places. I didn't bench bleed my m/c and it is fine. good luck