[HWYSTR455]

Yeah, I honestly can't remember the orientation of the lines/ports on the 2nd gen F-bodies, I ditched mine years ago for an adjustable. If you looked at the factory service manual, and it's clear which goes where, then obviously you're good with that.

On the rear adjustment, crank those things out there until you feel resistence in the adjuster, like with it applying brakes. This is just for troubleshooting to see if the pedal changes. If it does make a diff, you know where the problem may lay.

Pushrod measurement, well, may sound cheesy, but I used a paperclip bent from the flange to the cup, then measured the paperclip. Worked for me. If there's an issue with the pedal as you're talking about, it's going to be obvious. I kinda don't think that's it, because you say there's no 'loose' or 'free' travel of the pedal. You can take the MC cover off, and as you depress the pedal, you should see fluid movement, can try that as a general indicator.

Power/pressure bleed is the best, period. If you've got a rig for it, that's the way to go. Same thing, start at the furthest wheel, and make sure the tank is full.

Warning switch, that will tell you if the prop is boogered, in most cases. If it's a bias rod problem, the light will come on.

On the pedal, in the car, the upper hole is for manual brakes, the lower for power, or that's how I remember it. Wouldn't hurt to try a different one I guess. For a manual setup, using the power hole will make the pedal hard.

Hm, a bad booster causing a low pedal, not sure on that one. I know when there's no/low assist, due to a bad booster, the pedal is hard. Someone once told me that when you have your foot lightly on the pedal, and you start the car, the pedal should slowly go down, which indicates a good booster, but don't know how true that is. Do you have the original factory booster still? Might be able to try it. If you bought the booster from DSE, they should be troubleshooting it with you. Call them.

[Jimbro727]

Originally Posted by HWYSTR455

Yeah, I honestly can't remember the orientation of the lines/ports on the 2nd gen F-bodies, I ditched mine years ago for an adjustable. If you looked at the factory service manual, and it's clear which goes where, then obviously you're good with that.

On the rear adjustment, crank those things out there until you feel resistence in the adjuster, like with it applying brakes. This is just for troubleshooting to see if the pedal changes. If it does make a diff, you know where the problem may lay.

Pushrod measurement, well, may sound cheesy, but I used a paperclip bent from the flange to the cup, then measured the paperclip. Worked for me. If there's an issue with the pedal as you're talking about, it's going to be obvious. I kinda don't think that's it, because you say there's no 'loose' or 'free' travel of the pedal. You can take the MC cover off, and as you depress the pedal, you should see fluid movement, can try that as a general indicator.

Power/pressure bleed is the best, period. If you've got a rig for it, that's the way to go. Same thing, start at the furthest wheel, and make sure the tank is full.

Warning switch, that will tell you if the prop is boogered, in most cases. If it's a bias rod problem, the light will come on.

On the pedal, in the car, the upper hole is for manual brakes, the lower for power, or that's how I remember it. Wouldn't hurt to try a different one I guess. For a manual setup, using the power hole will make the pedal hard.

Hm, a bad booster causing a low pedal, not sure on that one. I know when there's no/low assist, due to a bad booster, the pedal is hard. Someone once told me that when you have your foot lightly on the pedal, and you start the car, the pedal should slowly go down, which indicates a good booster, but don't know how true that is. Do you have the original factory booster still? Might be able to try it. If you bought the booster from DSE, they should be troubleshooting it with you. Call them.

Thanks, I'm going to play with the rear shoe adjustment in a few minutes.

I like your pushrod measurement method lol, I'm going to give that a shot, too.

Yeah, after bleeding for hours and hours, the $60 bucks or whatever it cost for the pressure bleeder just seemed worth it.

I'm using the lower pedal hole - so I don't think that's the issue, unless there's something else out of alignment down there.

I wasn't sure about the booster either. I didn't get it from DSE, it's from AutoZone, I don't recall the brand. I could figure it out and give them a ring though, that'd at least rule that out.

The warning switch sounds like it'd be a big help - but I don't know how to get the connector to fit. I'm pretty sure I broke the connector trying to get it on, because I had it on the pin that comes out of the combo valve, and then I tried to pull the connector back off, and it left a small metal collar on the pin, which I'm pretty sure broke off from inside, so I need to find a new connector. I don't see how the connector could fit, though, it seems like the pin is too high. Is that how it's supposed to be?

I think that I just had a breakthrough though - I had previously thought that my brake pressure gauge didn't come with the right fitting for my calipers, but I found the correct one. I was able to measure the pressure going to the front left caliper, and the highest I measured was 600PSI. I'm supposed to get more like 1200-1500, right? What would cause that low pressure?

Thanks again

[HWYSTR455]

Yeah, 600 is way too low, and that's MC and/or booster issues. Or a leak! Well, could be that the rear shoes are traveling too far before hitting the drum too, not enough sweep on the pedal/MC.

Yup, you need a new connector, Help products has them, and since you have to splice anyway, you can add a length. The aftermarket prop valves, some do have a different connector, and may stand off higher, making the original connector not fit well. Honestly, I just said effit, and left mine off.

Hm on the booster, might be the issue. There's some referb shops that do those specifically, the 2nd gens, might want to look into that, could be your problem all together. There was something wierd about the 79-81 boosters, can't recall, but if they list them for 70 1/2 - 81, might be your clue. Check PY, think they're affordable, and they're correct.

MPBrake.com has the push rod depth checker, found that earlier doing a search, never knew they had one! 20 bucks is worth it!

.