16 years car sits, brake fluid gone, no sign

[Leroy_47_Plymouth]

The car sits in a garage/storage for 16 years and I find the brake pedal is to the floor. There's no sign of brake fluid under the car. Car gets flat bedded to my house and work on engine begins and finishes. Brakes next so master cylinder is opened and bone dry, how I'm not sure but ready to see and find a leak.....major. Fill the cylinder pump the pedal, fluid drops down, look for leak......nothing. Add more fluid, screw on master cylinder cover and pump the hell out of the break pedal and wait for a seal to pop or a line.....something, nothing. So I'll take the next step and get ready to bleed the brakes. Pull out the manual and review the brake system/bleeding next

[Dodgeb4ya]

You will need to re-do... preferably  replace all the hydraulics.

The wheel and master cylinders most likely will be full of sludge and corrosion.

[knuckleharley]

You may not see any leaks now,but after 16 years of storage all the seals are dry and cracked,and he leaks will show up. You don't want them to show up as you are running at highway speed and someone stops in front of you. Replace all the wheel cylinders with new ones and replace or rebuild the master cylinder.

 

I also strongly believe in replacing all the brake lines and brake hoses. Use the new copper/nickel brake lines that you can bend by hand,and never again have to worry about brake lines rusting out. Cost right at 26 bucks to replace all the hard lines. The 3 rubber hoses aren't very expensive,either. Do it all at one time and be done with it for years.

[Sharps40]

Your best option is total overhaul, cylinders, master, rubber lines and all steel lines.  Its old.  Its been open for who knows how long, it'll likely be rotten and substandard inside. 

[pflaming]

May I suggest. Remove any brake line and bend it in half. The chances are that it will not bend, it will break because it's all rusted out from the inside. For your own safety, put in NEW lines. The preceding posts are dead on, pun intended.

[mopar_earl]

Single circuit systems have no backup like dual circuit. You definitely want to replace everything, I mean everything. I also highly recommend a dual circuit master cylinder. Nicopp lines are great and not expensive. Also make sure your parking brake is working correctly as that is your last chance of control if the single circuit system ruptures somewhere.

Earl

[_shel_ny]

This is what I found.

[Plymouthy Adams]

and just what everyone here was telling you would be the case....think of the brake lines as your arteries plugged with cholesterol..that is you next discovery....not to be undone, the master is more than not corroded and and at minimum the relieving port stopped up...do not overlook the rubber lines that absorb the shock and movement of the chassis as being dry rotted on the exterior and soft and gooey inside...there is no room for a shortcut in this area...

[Leroy_47_Plymouth]

and just what everyone here was telling you would be the case....think of the brake lines as your arteries plugged with cholesterol..that is you next discovery....not to be undone, the master is more than not corroded and and at minimum the relieving port stopped up...do not overlook the rubber lines that absorb the shock and movement of the chassis as being dry rotted on the exterior and soft and gooey inside...there is no room for a shortcut in this area...

Guess I have my next big project ahead going with the master cylinder, brakes lines, wheel cylinders and brake hoses.

[Plymouthy Adams]

also...when doing the brakes you need to get up to speed on adjustments of the shoes...they are not like modern self centering floating assemblies..they are stationary and must be set centric to drum...you will need a proper tool to establish this base circle...do read the procedure a few times to get the major and minor adjustments clear in your head....getting it close by drag as many try will get you brakes..but will not get you brakes that will wear even..and could be very quick to fade due to less friction material against the drum

[Frank Elder]

And get your brand new slave cylinders sleeved before you you install them........so they won't pit a year or less later.

[Leroy_47_Plymouth]

also...when doing the brakes you need to get up to speed on adjustments of the shoes...they are not like modern self centering floating assemblies..they are stationary and must be set centric to drum...you will need a proper tool to establish this base circle...do read the procedure a few times to get the major and minor adjustments clear in your head....getting it close by drag as many try will get you brakes..but will not get you brakes that will wear even..and could be very quick to fade due to less friction material against the drum

K will read the manual on the procedure to adjust the brakes

[Bingster]

There is an article about building a home made brake adjusting tool to use in place of the original tools used by the dealers.

[James_Douglas]

A couple of things to note. 

 

1. You can adjust the shoes without the tool.  It is a little cumbersome but can be done.  You pull the cylinder ends of the shoes all the way in.  With the heel all the way in slip the drum on.  Then pull the drum off and turn the heel out a little, then slip the drum on.  Do this repeatedly until the drum will not slip on.  The back off the heal until it will.  At this point use some chalk and draw lines across the shoes in 1 inch spacing.  Then adjust the toe of the shoe out. Spin the drum and see where it removes the chalk.  That will tell you if you need to move the shoe up or down.  Like I said, it is a long and laborious process.  But it works well.  Of course in the time it takes to so 4 shoes, you can make the tool that show elsewhere in the forum.  I have an Ammco Gauge. 

 

2. I use Russell Racing DOT approved steel braded brake flex lines in place of the rubber hoses.  Why?  I had one from NAPA that went bad after 6 months.  You have to get inverted flare to AN adaptors to use the Russell lines.  Since these cars are all single master cylinder cars, I want hoses that will not fail.  As folks can tell you , I drive my Desoto more than most in tough San Francisco and SF Bay Area Traffic.

 

3. INSPECT all new wheel or master cylinders.  I had a new manufacture wheel cylinder with a seal that had a defect in it fail after about a year on a hill here in San Francisco.  NEVER trust the Q&A these days from overseas.  I would buy a set of master and wheel cylinders and send them all out to be sleeved with stainless (Joe is retired or I would use brass) and assemble the mater cylinder and wheel cylinder myself paying good attention to the condition of the new seals. 

 

4. There is a brake line you can get from these folks.

http://agscompany.com/product-category/brake-fuel-transmission-lines/poly-armour/

 

It works well.  I used it on my 1949 Desoto restoration.  Just be careful when making double flares with the newer materials.  You need to feed the tube a little over the normal mandrel height because it compresses more then the old steel lines. If you work the tool too much you get a flare with the tulip too compressed.  The little extra meat will compress when you hook it up.

 

In any event, my 2 cents worth.

 

James