so i just finished replacing my shoes, spring kit, wheel cylinders, and drums on my 89 rs. a couple concerns, first, once i finished i had my brother hop in and help me bleed but only a little fluid came out of either side..my brakes fluid is brown and the rear was up in the air...i'm taking it to a shop tomorrow to have the whole system properly bled, just wondering if anyone else has ran across this? second, adjusting and attempted bleeding, i put the left rear wheel on and it spun fine, a little drag. the right side, however, adjusted about the same, with just the drum on it spun a little tighter, but with the wheel on wouldn't move at all..i ended up backing the shoes pretty much all the way in.. anyone? now, i drove it and it takes a second but it stops which is better than 3 days ago when the rr cylinder popped..or the few months prior when there was a horrible grinding coming from, as i found out, the rr (destroyed the shoes and the drums). but my front brakes aren't 100% and the fluid is nasty so i'm thinking that's why. also the e-brake actually holds the car now, goes a bit high but it never held the car before so no complaints...but i'm worried because of the adjustment on the rr. any thoughts or advice would be appreciated, thanks guys.

 

1. Take the wheels and drums off. Adjust the rear shoes up until you can just barely get the drums back on over them after settling them into their exact correct position before trying. Rearrange them carefully on the backing plate so that they're fully at rest and retracted and perfectly round, before trying to put the drum on.

2. The reason no fluid some out, is probably the rubber brake line. THey fail by rusting up inside, such that the rust plugs up the already rather tiny holes in the places where the hose crimps onto the fittings. Just change it out. Change out the front ones as well, ALL old cars have this problem, and it's one where if ONE hose has it, the OTHERS, which ar emade THE SAME and have been subjected to THE SAME conditions for THE SAME length of time, are going to be .... surprise .... THE SAME.

3. The brown funk in the fluid is RUST. Sure sign that the inside of everything in the system is rusted, as described above for the hoses.