Well, last night I set out to do an entire brake job to my 88 Camaro 'Vert. Front and back. In the limited time that we had we finished the rears. They were so bad that there is deep grooves in the drum from the old shoes. I have to continue to use these as this is my daily driver and replacements are two weeks away, minimum. It has been in storage for almost three years after I bought it. Anyway to make a long story short.

When I press down on the brakes when driving I have to press down a good 2-3 inches before I get ANY kind of connectivity. and than when they do connect I need to press really hard. In essence the brakes are now worse, than when I was running "metal to metal".

Now I know these are self adjusting and all but will they self adjust that much?
Do I need to bleed the brake line?
Do you think air is in there?
Do I need to adjust that little crank on the inside of the drums? (sorry for not knowing its name, but I believe it only controls the Ebrake???)
I am replacing the fronts tonight, but I cant keep driving with having to hold down my brakes on the floor. PLEASE help.

Thanks,

James

First off the front brakes do most all the work on our cars anyway. I recommend doign the front brakes first anytime the car refuses to stop. It costs less and does much more to stop the car.
It sounds like you may have air in the brake lines. Bleeding the lines is always a necessity after doing a brake job. I am asuming that you know how to bleed brakes.
The self adjustment on drum brakes first works when hitting the brakes with the car going in reverse. I do not remember exactly what the little crank in back does but I believe you are right.

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84 Z28 383
Stripped w/Cage
700R-4 3.42

I have been told by a few people that they need to be seriously bled, but than was told by chevy that they just need to seat themselves and it will take awhile. I knew about driving backwards and did it ALOT, but I have to have the Ebrake ALL the way up in order for the car to stop. I will be bleeding them tomorrow, jsut in case. I have a LONG trip on friday, and do not wish to crash into somebody. It just not what I want lol. Thanks again for the response.

James

Your ebrake problem is because of slack in the cable. Drop the driveshaft and tighten the bolt in the middle of the tunnle. That is where the brake cables meet the e-brake handle cable. Did you set up the shoes correctly? You rotate the "star" on the backside until you can barely slide the drum over the pads. I have never had to bleed the brakes when i have replaced pads, but yours sound as if they need to be done.

Chronos is right, always do the fronts first.. would you rather have 30% braking or 70%?

Well, I am buying the new drums today. Kragen said they got some in early, so I am very happy about that. My buddy that was with me said that you want to tighten the star just enough so that the pads just touch the drums, but it's actually the other way around? It should be on their very tight? So that you can just turn it? I figure if I bleed the brakes it's certainly not going to hurt anything, and it jsut might help to alleviate a problem. Also how hard are the front brakes, I have heard they are very menacing. Not something you want to tackle to lightly? Are they like most and its a pop in pop out operation? Thanks guys.

James

What I read in a haynes manual (for a honda civic but I assume it's similar) is that the proper way to adjust the e-brake is to pull up to one notch on the brake then spin the tire, adjust the cable slack then spin it again, you continue this process until the wheel doesn't spin completely free. Put the brake down and test it again to see that it spins freely again... loosen slack where necessary and of course it all depends where you want the break to engage. I haven't performed this myself, just read how to do it so I guess it should be taken with a grain of salt... it's not a dangerous procedure so you can do it many ways, I would not tighten the slack all the way though... that might create some real problems.

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1984 Firebird T/A
305 LG4
T5 - Hurst Short Shifter
Edelbrock 600 CFM Performer Carb
Open Element Filter
Gutted Cat - 3" Exhaust to dual 2"
IROC 16x8 Wheels