Night Hawk

Ok today I was working on the rear brakes of my buddies 88 GTA. First I jacked up the rearend of the car, took off the wheels and told him to put the car into drive. To my surprise when he held down the brake the rotors were still turning no matter how much pressure he applied on the brake pedal. There was some scraping of the rear drivers side brake pad and the rotor really heated up. He told me once that his brake pad actually lit on fire from the heat a week ago.

I though it may have been his rear brake hose and replaced it, bled the brakes and still the rotors kept on spinning with the brakes applied. Could it be BOTH calipers seized? Both rotors are spinning just as freely as the other when brakes are applied. applied.

I know that when I lifted up the rear end of my car and put the brakes on, the wheels would slow down but not really come to a stop. Also my other buddies GTA's rear brakes never worked at all either. What the hell is causing this?

BLACK Z

It has the old stlye steel calipers right? well Then they probably need a rebuild, the calipers had this problem since day one, There is a weak spring inside or somthing to that effect. Try tighting up the e-brake and see if that helps.

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86Z28, GM 350, Jet perf Q-jet & chip Dual snorkel air cleaner, Edelbrock performer intake, Edelbrock headers, Edelbrock cat-back, Off road pipe, MSD 6AL, Accel Super Coil, Moroso Blue max wires, Rapid fire plugs, Jet fan switch, World class t-5, Hurst Short Throw Shifter, Ram Flywheel, Center force dual friction clutch,Aluminum drive shaft, BW disc rear 3.45's & a posi, PBR calipers, Earls braided brake lines, Polygrapite bushings all the way around, poly tranny mount & torque arm mount, Hotchkis lower control arms & panhard rod, Rancho limiter straps, KYB struts & shocks, Gm Wonderbar, Edelbrock strut tower brace, SSM sub frame connectors, Jamex lowering springs, Carbon metallic brake pads, Crossed drilled rotors, Mobil 1 Tranny fluid & motor oil, GM syntheic rear end oil, K&N, Grant stering wheel, 1,200 watt system, Jet Black Paint, 91 Z28 rims, 92 wing, Tinted windows.

Steve

maybe it is the proportioning valve. i have had one jam. when it jammed on me i had no pressure to the rear brakes. i did a quick test by opening up the bleeder valve on a rear caliper and having someone press the brakes. no fluid came out when i had this problem. hope this helps

Steve

TomP

You can nab a caliper rebuild kit from http://www.expressautoparts.com for about $13.. I rebuilt one of my calipers, and it wasn't hard at all. (I followed the Haynes 82-92 Firebird manual's instructions, which mirrors the GM service book exactly.) Also, http://www.carparts.com sells a Bendix "rear caliper hardware kit" for $6, the part # is H5611 - it includes enough new bushings (for the sliding mounting bolts) for both calipers! And they're the factory style bushings too.

What's funny is my rebuilt caliper seems to be working better than the Pep Boys one I bought to replace the other one. Hm.

Daniel Burke has a great "info" page on the rear disc calipers, check it out at http://www.isthq.com/~dan/1LEbrake.html

-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards