I've got a 1973 with manual brakes. Brake were real good, stiff (to be expected) but decent stopping power. Picked up the car from the painter and immediately noticed the brake pedal going nearly completely to the floor. Hairy drive home as I had to nearly stand on the brakes to stop the vehicle. Anyways, what should I be checking out in the morning? I'm a brake system novice.
check for leaking wheel cylinders, the hoses. also check under the mastercylinder on the fire wall for signs of leakage. i suspect that you will need to replace the mastercylinder but if anything else is leaking then replace it first. the way you check to see if the wheelcylinders are leaking is to take the drum off then take a small flat head screw driver and lift an edge of the boot off the outside of the wheelcylinder. if its dry then its good if its wet then its bad.
The front reservoir was empty (wet, but drained), and the back was full. Filled the front and now I can get some pressure with the brake when I pump it. Don't see any leaks on the front brakes. Suppose I should try bleeding them. (can that be done without removing the wheel(s)?)
Front reservoir is for the rear brakes. Check the back for leaks. And yes you can bleed with the wheels on, but might as well fix the leak first.
check to see that the top on your master sits very tight and that the gasket is clean and free of debris. i put a new master in my car and had the same problem. i would drive, and i guess the sloshing of the fluid would make it come out...bent the rods for the cap and cleaned the gasket and it's mounting surfaces and viola no more mysterious leak. my master cylinder cap is very tight, have to use a screwdriver to put the bar on and take it off
I agree w/ all the post I've seen on this issue. If I were a brake novice I wud take the car to pro. shop and have them look over it and give an estimate on what it take to do it properly. There are a lot of other things on a 38 yr. old car you can toy with. Brakes are something you want to work everytime -- all the time. PERIOD.
On the flip side, these old brakes can be cantankerous and require periodic attention. They are fairly straight foward, so anyone with decent mechanical skills and a basic set of instructions should get the hang of them fairly quickly. They are old, old technology and pretty easy to figure out how they work just by looking at them. You can't learn if you never try. I'd say get a couple brake tools and go at it. You'll need the top tool, and the one on the bottom in this photo: The hardest part for a brake novice will probably be getting the drum off. Do a search for how to loosen the shoes (that's where that bottom tool comes in handy). Oh, and never ever hit the brake pedal when the shoe is off. FYI
Before you start pulling off the rear drums, looking for a leak, check all the brake lines going to the rear brakes. It could be a brake line rotted through, especially over the rear end.
the manual drums shouldn't be that hard to pull, but I agree. Check the lines for leaks before going through the hassle of jacking and pulling. They are pretty easy to see...
Im sorry, but I don't think a person who's never done brakes or know virtually anything abt them diagnose and repair brakes w/o the help or assistance of someone who knows what their doing. Having the proper tools don't mean a lot when u don't have a clue what their for or how to use them. I personally feel disk are a lot simpler to replace than drums. I wud not drive or ride in a car I knew the person who worked on them was their first brake job. Im not opposed to DIY concept - I just think some things are so critical they shud only be done with assistance for newbees. JMO
