TomP

The M/c rebuild was easy, but messy... and I have no idea why it was leaking from the rear seal. I expected to see a torn seal, but it was fine. The bore was smooth, too. There was a little notch in it, but it was smooth (probably honed by the rebuild company), and there was no matching "rip" in the old piston's rear seal. I did notice though that the new primary piston (in the rebuild kit) rear seal looked like an o-ring, whereas the one I pulled from my car was flattened. Maybe the one from my car suffered the same fate as the distributor o-ring- ages, flattens, and leaks. I snagged two pics of the rebuild; they'll go up on my site (when ever I make one, hehe).

I never got to use my m/c pressure bleeder. I hooked it up to the rebuilt m/c and gave it pressure; it was working good until my bleeder bottle ran dry, and I forced air into the m/c reservoirs. Right after that, my bleeder overfilled the m/c reservoir and started leaking- so I don't know if it was because of the air forced in, or if I came up with a bad design again. So I just re-bench-bled the m/c.

I used the pressure bleeder (minus my new adapter) directly on the brake lines on the car... I hooked the bleeder bottle into the lines that come off the prop valve and go into the m/c. So I knew my brake lines (and calipers) were flushed of old fluid, and air-free...

Then I hooked the m/c right onto the car. As my GM manual seems to say, if the m/c has no air in the bore, and the car's brake lines & calipers are known to have no air in 'em, no further bleeding is necessary.

So I hooked the system up, and tried the pedal- awesome! It's higher (and firmer) than ever! And I bench-bled the m/c exactly as I did last year, too. I wonder if my theory of the "pre-rebuilt m/c's" is correct.... they sit so long in warehouses that the seals dry out.

All I need to do is get those rear calipers rebuilt with the recall/service bulletin parts, and I'll have one helluva brake system!


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l)

KED85

Way excellent.
THE CHEAPEST AUTO INSURANCE IS THE BEST BRAKES!
Your policy is renewed!

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Chat Soon,
KED85
Karl
1985 Firebird 2.8 to 3.4 swap project for Smog Happy LA, CA