[PontGuy]

Stucky, you probably just didn't read far enough to get to the rod part of the discussion I remember you asking about yours a while back and glad to hear you got it figured out.

Yes the rod length is important and maybe something we should come back to. When I was debugging mine I found the rod was actually too long so that the M/C was not returning all the way, and I could not even get the system to bleed. It was after addressing this that I eventually found the bad wheel cylinders.

I think we decided the rod length was probably not the problem for Jimbro because his pedal is stopping before it reached the floor. Which brings two questions to mind-

Jimbro, is your pedal reaching a hard stop before it gets to the floor?

If so does that mean the M/C is definitely reaching the end of the stroke, or is there a stop in the booster that would prevent further travel? If there is a stop in the booster then the rod could still be too short.

As for bleeding, I always have used the "wife in the car pumping the brakes" method, similar to Ed. Always worked for me. Given my experience with sucking air in past the seals on the wheel cylinders I personally would not trust vacuum bleeding very much.

And I agree that finding a shop that can fix yours quickly may be a challenge in itself. The brake shops that work on newer cars will probably be just as lost. And most resto shops probably don't have that much brake system expertise. Now if you can find an "old school" brake shop then you might have a shot.

Walt

[Shiny]

Jimbro -

Sorry to hear you are still frustrated.

All I can say is your symptoms are close to what mine were, but maybe not exactly. After I bled mine, I had brakes and they didn't feel too bad. Then, I would drive it around the block, and after I pressed the pedal a few times (10 to 20), my brakes would soften up and I ended up exactly with your symptoms. The pedal would go nearly to the floor before I could get some braking, but I never completely lost all braking effect. I would bleed again and it would be working again, then they would go away after several pedal strokes. I finally concluded I was sucking air into the back system at the wheel cylinders.

Ed - I think you are describing the same thing - when the rears don't build pressure, the pedal travels a lot farther than normal before the fronts start working.

Jimbro, I think you still have air in your rear system and either your bleeding method is not working, you have a leak, you have air trapped in the master, or you too are sucking air on the return stroke. If you can get it to a shop safely and have them pressure bleed, would probably be worth it. If it fixes it, you win. If not, I hope you find someone that can figure it out.

I forgot if your m/c has bleed screws? When I replaced my master (unrewarding repair attempt number 26), I bought one from Inline Tube that had bleed screws. I seemed to have more success bleeding after I got that. If I removed a line between m/c and combo valve, I would bleed at the master first and was surprised how much air I would get there. I figured it was the high point in the system, and air might get trapped there and get pulled back into the master easily. I never understood how bleeding could eliminate a trapped bubble like that, so right or wrong, it made sense to me to have those bleed screws at the master.

Hope you find a simpler path soon.