No brakes after install's

craigwhite89gt said:

Ok well i put 73 MM calipers and slotted rotors, stainless lines. Also a Trickflow Track heat intake 75 MM TB and 1 " spacer. My father and I bleed the lines. I start the car. Start backing up and almost hit the garge door cuz i have no brakes. Pedal went right to floor. Any ideas here? Figure i would ask before i go over to my parents tommarow and try re bleeding. Yes i know it is recommened to upgrage my MC but i know the car should have some brakes with stock.

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I'd try re-bleeding the brakes to start off with, check for any leaks before you re-bleed.

I'd bet there's still air in the lines. Bleeding brakes can be a tedious process if you don't have one of those vacuum bleeders, and even then it can still be a pain. If you introduce air into the system at any single point after bleeding the others, the entire system needs to be bled again to ensure there's no air hiding anywhere that you'll push into a line the next time you hit the brakes.

Good luck with those 73mm calipers. I tried doing that a while back and it made my brakes terrible. You're supposed to convert your master cylinder to run those calipers and add an adjustable proportioning valve.

I had the 73mm calipers on my old 88 GT with stock setup and it stopped just fine, you don't need the M/C.

Hell i'm running 03 cobra brakes and drums on a stock M/C and booster and it's fine

Did you make sure you got the bleeder on top of the calipers? You can't get the air out if you didn't. Maybe switched left and right?

don't waste you time with any more bleeding or testing, there is no point to it, I too tried the 73mm caliper setup, even bled properly they were still unsafe without the MC.

one thing ive learned on brakes is always bleed from the rear to the front going from side to side. best way to figure it out, go out for a test if on a safe and open road, get it goin to bout 55 or so and slam the brakes , if the rear locks up before the fronts do you got a bad caliper in the front somewhere, might take multiple testing to figure out which one but it works, or vice vera if the front locks up and the rear slides, go from there. from what ive researched the difference between v8-v6, and 4 banger the master cylinder is the same as well as the brake booster in some years. only big diff is going rear disc and needing an adj. prportioning valve.. give it some thought

89streetbeast said:

one thing ive learned on brakes is always bleed from the rear to the front going from side to side.

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yup, you start at the RR then go to the LR then the RF and finally the LF, you start at the furthest point from the MC and work your way to it

you didnt have the e-brake up while bleeding, did you? none of your lines are leaking? did you pump the brakes to build pressure?

The pedal shouldn't go right to the floor unless you did a really poor job at bleeding the brakes and there is A LOT of air left in the system. Air in the system makes for a "spongy" pedal, but you should still have sufficent braking power. I'd check all of your lines/hoses as well as the MC and drums if you still have them(wheel cylinder), it sounds like you've got a leak somewhere.

Trefty said:

The pedal shouldn't go right to the floor unless you did a really poor job at bleeding the brakes and there is A LOT of air left in the system. .

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Not true, the 73mm calipes are oversized for the stock MC, some people get away with it, but i've yet to see someone completely happy with the pedal from that swap without the MC.
Mine stopped the car, it was scary but it worked, so i said screw it and just upgraded everything the right way.

A 3 to 2 port conversion is easy, and fairly cheap craig, so just get the right parts so you don't have to go through the bleeding again and again.

craigwhite89gt said:

OK here is the deal .... No leaks....Bleed system noticed i had e brake up after bleeding... BUT before i go and do it all again... With my bleeders closed shouldnt my pedal get hard to push cuz i can push it to the floor over and over and over or is that jus a sign of air and i should do it again?

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My pedal would pump up, but it was very spongey and the fronts locked up wayyyy before the rears even thought of it. I'd put your stock calipers on until you get everything to do the conversion correctly, like the rear disc's and the new master cylinder. Your life and others will be in jeopardy running the 73's with all the stock equipment. I text book bleed mine with a vacuum bleeder starting from the rear and working forward and then going over it with someone pumping the brakes and me bleeding them, they still sucked. Don't waste your time. I put the stock calipers on and bleed em, now the brakes have never felt better.

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 or Lowes 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.