My experience bleeding the brakes.

[OUTFXD]

so.  My first medium hard braking experience and ONE tire locks up. 

 

They where kind of soft so I figured the last guy didnt do a thorough job bleeding the brakes.

 

Jack the back of the car up and climb under it with my trusty 3/8 box wrench.  Wouldnt fit over the zirk fitting.

 

I thought, "thats odd",  I crawl out from under the car and grab my 7/16 box wrench.  Entirely to big.

 

I desperately climb  out and back under my car with various box wrenches and sockets.  and come to the chilling conclusion that my SAE tools arent fitting.

 

I borrow my friends 10mm and reluctantly climb back under.  I reach up with the tool and almost cringe as I slip it into place.

 

a perfect fit.

 

My blood runs cold as my brain flashes back to me going over the car before buying it and the owner proudly proclaiming "Its got all new brakes!"

 

I now wonder how much of the brake system on my vintage American car has been replaced with cheap Chinese parts with metric fittings.

 

I ASSUME that they simply bought a cheap rebuild kit off Amazon who slipped in Chinese knock offs.  But... how much is involved?  Just the bleed screws?  The wheel cylinders? the flare nuts on the hard lines?  The soft brake hoses?

 

To make things worse.  I had my buddy pump up the brakes and I loosened one of the bleed screws and got a nice satisfying squirt of break fluid.  Then I tightened down the bleed screw.   and it refused to pump back up.  The brake pedal just goes to the floor with no resistance.

 

I ASSUME that the master cylinder is out of fluid,  which would also explain the soft brakes and uneven brake pressure.  But I cant get the inspection plate off to check the master cylinder.  Even with an impact driver.   I sprayed a little wd-40 on the threads underneigth.  and thats where I am now.  Giving the wd-40 time to soak.

 

Wishes prayers and words of encouragement accepted!

Edited September 10, 2022 by OUTFXD

[Los_Control]

I wonder what your floor looks like? .... This would be a good time to use heat on the bolts to free them up.

If they are fully painted, with insulation, undercoating .... heat could be a bad thing.

[OUTFXD]

Currently Bare.  Painted Black.  I managed to break the inspection plate screw loose with An Impact driver and Good old "Know how",  Which is the name my buddy gave to his 5lbs Hand sledge.  It made short work of a meager seized screw! 

 

On a positive note,  The master cylinder does NOT  look brand new, so at least that is proper SAE.

 

Popped open the master cylinder (Another adventure in it self) and sure enough.  It was bone dry.  I put in some DOT3 and the brakes went rock hard in about three pumps.

 

More updates as they come!

[Sam Buchanan]

Now the question is........where did the brake fluid go?

[TodFitch]

5 hours ago, Sam Buchanan said:

Now the question is........where did the brake fluid go?

And why were the inspection plate screws so corroded if the brakes were recently rebuilt?

[Sam Buchanan]

 

"rebuilt brakes" may have meant new shoes.......

[Plymouthy Adams]

The industry is in flux as always but more focused today.   The old American cars are not the only ones with changes being made.  Thread cutting for metric and SAE involve many gear sets and now the trend is to standardize the industry especially in tooling drastically reducing production cost and change over setup requirements.  While in many cases the flare fitting of the standard brake lines remains unchanged along with the threads on the bleeding nipple also the same, the move to make the bleeder metric when it comes time to wrenching is for sure changing at least in repair kits.   I recently got new kits for the British calipers that included both SAE and Metric threads for the bleeder nipple as the main features of the caliper go unchanged in bore and piston, the machining of new castings being made are slanted toward metric and why there is the second set of bleeders in the kit, both require metric wrenches.  My units are still some 57 years of age I cannot speak if the new remade casting will have metric threaded line fitting.  I would not discount this as such but would cause much aggrivation in the hobby from owner now required to renew lines or purchase adapters.   I cannot speak of the last decade of cars as I have not futzed much with brakes here, but the decade before is still standard SAE threads while fasteners are metric.  I am not sure if and when or maybe already done for the fluid line going metric across the common US makers as everything is going world class/global.  I will say the parts industry will be servicing both with fitting and across the counter lines for decades to come yet as they have for the decades that have passed.  I can say this much, as to Brit cars, I'd rather embrace the metric over much of the BSW and other off the wall sizes they are known for.  One line of manufacturing that should have been standardized many decades ago.  

[keithb7]

Indeed. When it comes to the car’s various systems “Rebuilt” has many definitions.  “Rebuilt engine” might be the biggest mis-leading statement of all. 

[OUTFXD]

12 hours ago, TodFitch said:

And why were the inspection plate screws so corroded if the brakes were recently rebuilt?

They Scrubbed the dash down with peroxid and rock salt to "artificially" rust the dash. apparently they went pretty heavy with the sauce.  it ate out the floor boards under the doors and rocker panels.  You could see where the the stuff dripped off the dash and pooled on the floorboard.

Edited September 11, 2022 by OUTFXD

[OUTFXD]

18 hours ago, Sam Buchanan said:

Now the question is........where did the brake fluid go?

No evidence of a leak,   Even odds on either its a slow leak or they didnt fill the master cylinder after installing the "new" brakes.

[TodFitch]

1 hour ago, OUTFXD said:

They Scrubbed the dash down with peroxid and rock salt to "artificially" rust the dash. apparently they went pretty heavy with the sauce.  it ate out the floor boards under the doors and rocker panels.  You could see where the the stuff dripped off the dash and pooled on the floorboard.

Off topic but. . .

 

When I was in my late teens and early twenties I was cocky enough to think I could understand anything given a little time and the desire to study it. As I have gotten older I have noticed more and more things that I am certain I will never be able to understand. Most of the "I will never understand this" items are about human behavior. You have just added one more item to my list. Why would anyone think that was a good idea?

[OUTFXD]

2 hours ago, TodFitch said:

Why would anyone think that was a good idea?

Going for the popular "rat rod look"  artificially adding "patina" is quite trendy.  I am guessing little to no thought was given to "long term effects".