I have no stopping power at all with my new motor. The pads have been changed and the rotors looked fine...I bled everthing but stll have no stopping power!>..I almost rearended a car lastnight...the brakes just feel very spongy and almost go to the floor. it shouldnt be my cam..its only 226/232

what do I look for? I need to get this fixed its to dangeous to drive the car like that.

 

mines doing the same thing,i think i have a bad master cylinder..

 

if the pads and the rotors are glazed...what would that cause? really bad brake fade? as in starts to stop and then the pedal just fades to the floor and I have NO stopping power? I mean like ZERO!

 

Check how much vacuum you actually have. That cam is decent sized and I'm sure it lowered your vacuum from what it pulled stock.

Also are you running the stock 10.5" stuff up front? Might be worth it to upgrade. I had the same problems with the stock brakes, my car would just creep down, never really grabbed. And then it would just lock them up. I opted to go c4 up front and since I'm putting in a new motor, I went with all new brake lines/master/booster as well.

Just check and make sure you don't have any vac leaks and that you are drawing enough to make them work.

And FWIW, if you don't break the brakes in properly, you will have problems.

Will

 

Im thinking its my pads and rotors that have glazed over......tomorrow I will go have my rotors turned and get some new pads....right now IM using Durolast from AZ....I hear alot about HAWKS pads....are they better? who sells them?

 

Yeah check your vacuum at the brake booster, it might not have enough vacuum to operate. Also, if you hear a squish sound when you hit the brakes, your master cyl. is toast. The Glaze would have to be wicked bad to cause that.

 

I dont have a vaccum gauge........where do I hook it up anyways? ....and nah I dont hear any kind of squishing when I hit the pedal...well I dont think so....I really havent tried to notice that....

 

How did you bleed?

If the master cylinder was ever run dry that needs to be bench bled,

it might also help if you get a pressure bleeder.

 

Same thing happened to me when I put in my 383. You probably have a lot less vaccume now for the master cylinder. Look into getting a vaccume canister and connect it between the intake manifold and the master cylinder it will make sure that there is enough vaccume.

 

have someone in the car pumping the pedal....hold it,,,,while Im at the bleeder valve....release the fluid..tighen it back up and have them pump again...and do the same thing..until there is nothing but fluid coming out.

what is bench bleed?

 

U remove master cylinder, and put it in vice fill with some fluid and grab, a metal rod of some kind and manually push in plunger(cant remebr proper name), until there are no bubbles

 

A cheap vacuum gauge is like under $15 and it'll give you a pretty good clue as to what the problem is in under 10 mins. You can probably borrow one for free from most parts stores. It's a lot easier than bench bleeding a MC.

 

guy at AZ says thats its either my master cylinder or not enough vaccum cause of my cam...but also says that if I didnt have enough vaccum it would be hard to push the pedal in? is that true? cause what I have now is the pedal fades almost all the way to the floor. and cant stop....Im going to get a vaccum canister tomorrow but should I also change my master cylinder too?

 

sounds more like the master to me. my RS has both a crummy master, and a dead booster. it makes for an interesting ride.i drove my blazer the other day and locked all 4 wheels. oops, not used to power brakes.

 

If I change the master cylinder......I know I have to bleed all the brakes again but do I just do it the normal way? or since I change the MS will I have to do it a different way to fill the MS with fluid?

How hard is it to remove the MS? I see only 2 bolts..is that it and then it just comes off?

 

Bench bleed the master, off the car. A lot of people forget this step, and it can be very hard to get all the air out of the master, even with a pressure bleeder, if it is not bench bled before install.

 

ok...but how do I bench bledd the master? like stated above? Im going to get a new master tomorrow and I want to make sure I do it right before I put it back on..

After the so called bench bleed? then I bleed the brakes like normal? to get all the air out of the lines....that Im sure wl get in when I remove the lines from the master.

 

yeah two 15mm nuts and two 9/16 lines and it off..

here some link i found that are helpful about bleeding a MC..

http://www.misterfixit.com/brakbld1.htm
http://www.superchevy.com/technical/.../0509sc_bench/

im going to the same thing as we speak

 

ok sorry for stealing ur thread Wishmaster's87IROC but like i said im having the same problem..

aight i bought a redone mc today,they didnt have one for the camaro but they had one for a firebird 4 disks so i got it (should be the same right)

got home bench bleed the mc until i seen no bubbles then bleed all 4 wheels.with the pump 3 and hold deal,my pedal almost goes to the floor.

back it out of the shop and did a lil test on my drive way,went about 10mph and slammed on the brakes the front wheels lock up..idk probably going to rebleed my brakes again..but anything esle i can check?

 

hey no problem man!>..as long as we can both get out problems fixed..Im gooD!

I got me a reman MC today too...but I wont go to put it on til tomorrow. FUnny thing was AZ was 25.00 without the RES and 139 with and Orileys was 25.00 without and 50. with...and ADvance was 25.00 with the res.......so I got the one at ADvance of course...it came with the lines and fittings so I can bench bleed the thing.


I'll see what happens tomorrow...got the MC turned Rotors and new pads...


hey atleast you get front wheels locking...I get nothing....just real bad pedal fade to the floor.

 

yeah autozone or advance didnt have a mc for a camaro with 4 disk in stock..said they had to order it 2-3 days i was like i cant wait that long.so i ask them if they had one for a firebird and they had one.kinda crazy if u ask me same part# and all..it was 27.99 without the res but came with bleeder kit..

well im thinking now that i might have a bad booster with a pin hole or something..

 

why you think a bad booster?
her did you bench bleed you MC? was it hard to push the plunger in? Im going to follow the instrctions on the second link you posted.

 

idk im just lost on what esle it could be...

i went by the 2nd link i posted...

and nah it wasnt to hard to push,i use a jack handle to make it easier

 

well mine was a no go!>........I replaced the MC along with resurfaced rotors and new pads ....I still have pedal fade......and not stopping...its stops a little better but not good enough as in if I had to slam on the brakes to miss a car of something I would hit it!....

either I didnt get all the air out or its something else.

Im gonna take it to a brake place and have them bleed them fro me....

or its that I need a vaccum canister...but I removed the line from the brake booster and put my thumb over it and its got plenty of suction...so Im at a loss

 

same here man,

i replace both front brake lines,drive side caliper,mc and still my pedal almost goes to the floor with only 3in to spare.

tomorrow im going and go ahead and gets some new pads for the front and bleed them again for the 3rd time..

 

Sounds like your brakes are not properly bled. I think you should just start over and rebleed the entire system. I think you might not be doing it correctly.

 

Ok well I just paid 20 bucks and took it to a brake shop and had them bleed my MC and all fours...I was right there and was the one up on the lift and was doing the pedal.
The guy bled y MC and said it was full of air.......and when he did the back brake which are drum he said that was full of air too.....but the fronts were good.
anyways to make a long story short I took it for a test drive and so did he....Ive come to the conclusion that these brakes will not lock ...the brakes are better but not like other cars...if I wanted to lock the tires ..THAT WILL NOT HAPPEN....

so maybe I just need to upgrade my brakes or something else might be my problem.

I dont really see a vaccum cnaister doing anything.


I do have drum on the rears if that might be something...

I dont know but Im done with trying to figure it out.


I just gotta becareful driving around...

 

I had no problems locking up my 87's brakes. Maybe you rear brakes are poop or not adjusted properly, that would have a big effect on the overall braking and pedal feel.

 

I don't mean to hyjack the thread but I have a different issue. The pedal is firm but the brakes just don't grab that well. Today I scuffed the pads with an 80 grit wheel, they were shiny and smooth now they have some texture. Also lubed the caliper guide pins and surfaces between the pads and calipers. Then flushed and bled the system. Pedal is firm as before but the brakes still don't work great, the car slows down gradually. A normal light stop feels fine, no pull, no pulsation, but a panic stop is so-so. I did manage to lock the rears up once. What concerns me the most is if I'm just rolling along in drive at idle and jam on the brakes the car doesn't stop immediately, it takes a few feet. I didn't drive the car for over a year but I don't remember it being this way. Is this normal? I was thinking of going to larger front brakes like the Baer 13" but I don't want to have the same issues if I have a bad master cylinder. Any thoughts?

 

rubber lines bad?

 

that cam isnt too big for a 383 and should have plenty of vacuum.

I think its time for LS1 brakes up front and rear with the LS1 master cylinder/booster combo. thats what i want to run and it should stop very nicely.

 

I have braided lines up front. I went back to rubber in the rear a few years ago after the braided one from the floorpan to axle broke. I was never able to find braided ones from the axle to calipers, they are almost 18 years old. What would be wrong with the rubber hoses, too soft and expanding under pressure? I thought with age they would dry out and get hard.

 

I had a similar problem about a year ago and I came to the conclusion that these 3rd just had crappy brakes so I got an LS1 kit installed.
The difference was amazing. It wasn't cheap though. I think I spent around $750.
Good Luck