Brake Installation ... In rememberance ... read first post edit

Now hold on here.

If you get the brake warning lamp, this indicates air in the system, not a bad booster.

I just went through this. Use a pressure bleeder on the M/C to force fluid out to each wheel one at a time. I used almost 1/2 gallon of brake fluid before the air was out.

Are you using your stock drum proportioning valve? This may need to be eliminated or at least gutted inside. I ended up doing this and used an adjustable proportioning valve from Summit.

I tend to believe that for now, you've got air somewhere, and the pump and bleed ain't gonna get it out. You need a large volume of fluid to pull the air out.

Good luck,

Greg

Oh, about the warning light:

It comes on when it senses a pressure differential between the front and rear brake lines. Many times, this means that there is air in either the front or rear system. The reason it comes on when the engine is running is that there is more overall brake pressure available with the booster working. This can compress whatever air is in the system far enough th set off the switch in the proportioning valve. The light effectively means that the system has automatically shut off either the front or rear brakes at the proportioning valve.

Clear as mud, no?

Greg

You say this is a new 4 wheel power disc brake set-up. Can I take that to mean you had disc/drums before? If so did you change the proportioning valve? The disc have a residual valve that the drum setup doesn't. The pressure to the rear disc would blead off so when you apply the brakes it would take a lot of fluid to move the pad to the rotor causing an inbalance in the system.
[addsig]

To me the only thing that makes sense is vaccuum, seeing that when the car is off you feel a hard pedal. Granted that if the car were rolling you would have to use both feet on the pedal. However, problem only occurs when car is on. No vaccuum will be present when the car is off, and vaccuum will be present when the car is on. Check vaccuum connections to the booster, then maybe send back for an exchange on the booster. Hope this helps.
[addsig]

The kit is a complete kit all designed to work together ... It includes the booster master cylinder and new proportioning valve for this application (not adjustable).

The car had 4 wheel manual drum brakes ...

I had no instruction sheet with the booster portion of the kit and I talked to the guy that sells them this morning ... I might not have enough "play" in the pedal/boostr rod. I can't check it right now but I will later today. He says if there is no or too little "play" this booster is extremely sensative and it could be just kicking on the brakes as soon as the engine is running.

I'll figure out this "play" issue tonight ... **** this could be tough we will also be starting the cutting and welding on for the 78 Trans AM front end subframe to the old "effie" ... Hmmm busy night What else is new.

I'll post back on what I determine regarding my input from the seller.
[addsig]

I was informed today by maker of the kit that the rear calipers CAN NOT be properly bled while mounted on the brackets ... they must be removed and the bleed nut pointed strait up, otherwise there will be air in the top of the caliper that can never escape.

So I have cut a couple of wood blocks to stop the pads and will try this beeding technique next [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]
[addsig]

All right, now we're getting somewhere! Let us know if it works.

Greg

Is that the kit where you use a bracket from steeltech solutions on the rear, mount late 80's Lincoln rotors, and mid eighties cadillac calipers? Sure sounds like it is, I just installed those on my mustang. The bleeders are too low when mounted to get all the air out. Mine work great. I used a transam racing power booster and master cylinder for an early mustang with manual trans, stainless steel front disc conversion, and the above for the rear.

I still cannot get the front brakes to work as aggressively as I like. I am beginning to think that the SSB conversion calipers are not that great. It takes a ton of pedal effore (even with the power booster) to get the front brakes to lock. They are somewhat better after I changed to semi-metallic pads. Just thinking out loud here, has anyone else here run into the same problem with the front brakes? My 11-year old runs down the street everytime he sees a can of brake fluid. He has spent a lot of time pushing the pedal.

i agree with the need for a residual vavle i had that problem [img]/phpBB/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Is this the bracket and caliper that you have? You can see the bleeder valve is too low.
[img]C:\Documents and Settings\swensosc\My Documents\Pictures\Mustang\brakes\P1010034.JPG[/img]