Maverick H1L

iTrader: (8)

Okay, I went in under the hood with my Mity-Vac three or four days ago now and took care of that blasted air bubble in the master cylinder. That loosened up the brake on the pass side slightly. You see, the problem I've been having is that some idiot went and nearly destroyed my pass side caliper by not using the guide pins, but replacing them with washers, and not replacing the driver's side caliper when the dust seal blew and the piston rusted to the bore. I have replaced the driver's caliper and now am probably going to end up replacing the pass side caliper if it's really necessary, becuase I really had to squeeze the guide pins into their seats and I still have to redo the lower guide pin on that side with JB weld to fix the threads that were destroyed when I had to drill out the remnant of the frozen guide pin. The problem is that the driver's side caliper is too loose and the pass side caliper is too tight. There isn't that much of a difference, but it's noticable when you turn the wheel by hand. I know that when I started to bleed the brakes after I redid the caliper and both flex hoses, that the warning light switch was loose and I tightened it up, but could I have tightnened it so much that the piston inside the valve won't move? I know someone is going to suggest that I bleed the caliper on the driver's side, and to respond to that, I'm going to say "I already did that twice with my Mity-Vac!"

BTW, for further reference, to get the air bubble out of the master cylinder, I used the bleeding kit that came with the Mity-Vac and instead attached the suction cup to the end of the hose instead of the bleeder attachment, and slowly pumped the brakes a few times after having applied 25 "/Hg to the bore in the bottom of the reservoir with the cup.

Maverick H1L

iTrader: (8)

Okay, if nobody can answer me the above, then I've got an easy one for you to answer:

About how much travel should I have in the ebrake lever before the brakes are actually set?

84406

about 14-16 clicks usually are right for the e-brake

TomP

Noticed one bit.. you used JB weld to repair the threads of the caliper mounting bolts? Would it be safer to just replace the spindle?

When you say the caliper is "loose" you mean how much drag is on the wheel when you spin the wheel, right? Not that the calipers are loose to the spindle?

The prop valve doesn't do any left/right proportioning. It just splits one "front" port into two "left and right" ports. So I don't think the problem is in the prop valve.

I think your best bet is to also replace the passenger caliper. Since the new driver's one is loose (and assuming you mean there's less drag on a spinning wheel), I'm betting the old passenger one is messed up.

Maverick H1L

iTrader: (8)

Haven't done anything to the steering knuckle yet. Just put the thing back together and am waiting for results on whether I should aim for a new caliper or not. And yes, I am talking about the wheel drag when I am talikg about loose and tight. And there is no betting on whether the pass side caliper is messed up, It is messed up! But it works!

And as for the e brake, I know that in my dad's Cavalier that the e brake handle don't even get halfway before you can't pull on it anymore without wrecking the cable. And that is somewhere in the ballpark of 8-10 clicks, I believe. I don't use it that much.

Maverick H1L

iTrader: (8)

Okay, today I went out and removed the wheel from the affected caliper, but since someone had the only running car ( A Chevy!) all day, I couldn't go to the local auto parts store and exchange the old caliper for a new one, so I guess I'll do that tomorrow, (and finish cleaning out my garage so I can put my car into it for the winter so I can do a ton of work to it). I'll reply with results as soon as I have some....