I just put on some Autozone calipars for the rear of a 86.auot trans...I loaded the pads and bled the brakes but upon starting the car the pedal went dead,bled all the lines with new fluid.I read the Haynes manual for adjusting them,but not a very good description.Do i need to turn the piston out before hand to take up some play? After bleeding I still had a lot of slop with the pads backing off.I read all I could find in all the forums and could really use a step by step!!! any takers??? They had the e-brake cables unhooked for a long time and the left one needs to be replaced,froze. Thanks Allan

 

Apply and release the parking brake until the slack is taken up.

 

I usually screw in the **** on the back side of the calipers by hand before connecting the emergency brake line, but then again I think the 85 setup is different from the 86 and up stuff.....

 

No, it was all the same from 82 through 88.

 

In case you don't know...pop the caliper around the rotor and bolt it into place before messing with the E-brake shaft. That shaft on the outside is really a bolt on the inside that has very (~60*) steep threads. 2-1/2 turns MAX and the piston will pop right out the caliper. I'd agree with Apeiron and say just apply the E-brake a few times. On new Delco iron calipers this should always work. I also read on here that someone else recommended applying the brakes and then quickly letting off and slamming them on to force the piston out against the pads/rotor. When I did my axle swap this last weekend, it was with an 87 Firebird so I should have the same calipers as you. The "Brake-QuicklyRelease&Slam" method worked fine for me.