Classic Mustangs List Archive

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Mail From: ffacker (Fred Facker)

Hey, I just swapped my front drums for discs on my '66 C-code coupe. I bought the ABS power & brake conversion through Classic Mustang of Houston. I also got a Wagner dual master cylinder. Total cost after tax was $830.

I started the project last weekend, but found one of the rotors damaged from shipping, so I had to drop that back by the shop and they got me a new one within a day.

Restarted the project last night. Due to the fact that all of the original brake line connections were already stripped when I started, it slowed me down getting things apart and then getting things back together with a good seal. All the new stuff fit-up nicely, and the master cylinder came with a plug for the distribution block and adapters for the rear brake line, but I did have to go find another adapter to match-up the front brake line. Rebending the old brake lines was also a bit of a challenge, but nothing overly complicated.

I've got two questions to see if my experiences here are normal. The first is: Has anyone else had trouble getting a seal with the brake lines with the hollow screw and two copper washers where it runs into the caliper? I just kept cranking down more and more on those, and I still see just the slightest little ooze after a drive in the car. Is that normal? Why don't they just give you a brake line that screws directly into the caliper like on the drums?

The second weird result was that even after retightening all my leaks and bleeding the entire system twice, I still had very little pedal pressure. It would go almost to the floor before engaging. I wasn't sure this was going to be safe enough to drive, so we took her out on an empty road, and I slammed the brakes. The first time the car just slowly came to a stop. Very poor stopping. I took her back up to speed and did it again. This time it locked up the wheels, and I skidded a little. After that I had great brake pressure, and the whole system seemed normal. What in the world would slamming on the brakes do to pressurize the whole system?

By the way, the project took me from 7 p.m. - 11 p.m. last night to swap the brakes themselves. Then I spent from 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. today replacing the master cylinder, tracking down line adapters, bleeding the brakes, tracking down more copper washers to try and seal the brake lines, bleeding the brakes again, trying to figure out why I had no pedal pressure, bleeding brakes some more and test driving. The instructions said 4 hours, but if you attempt it, I'd give yourself a little leeway and never brag to your father and brother that you'll be done in an hour and a half.
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Mail From: cwdaniel (Cliff Daniel)

> I've got two questions to see if my experiences here are normal. The
first is: Has anyone else had trouble getting a seal with the brake lines
with
> the hollow screw and two copper washers where it runs into the caliper? I
just kept cranking down more and more on those, and I still see just the
slightest little
>ooze after a drive in the car. Is that normal? Why don't they just give you
a brake line that screws directly into the caliper like on the drums?

I think the "banjo bolt" design is probably the best engineering solution
they could come up with for attaching a flexible/mobile hose to the caliper
and have it stay sealed.
Hopefully your caliper/washers/bolt and hose surfaces were clean and just
need a little more tightening. If you end up replacing the washers, look for
the ones with concentric ridges machined into them. They're better that the
just flat type.

>The second weird result was that even after retightening all my leaks and
bleeding the entire system twice, I still had very little pedal pressure. It
would go
>almost to the floor before engaging. I wasn't sure this was going to be
safe enough to drive, so we took her out on an empty road, and I slammed the
brakes.
>The first time the car just slowly came to a stop. Very poor stopping. I
took her back up to speed and did it again. This time it locked up the
wheels,
>and I skidded a little. After that I had great brake pressure, and the
whole system seemed normal. What in the world would slamming on the brakes
do to
>pressurize the whole system?

If you've got the dual master cylinder, you probably got the
proportioning/combination valve. If so, a whack on the pedal probably
centered the shuttle valve inside. Before you may have been running on only
the front or rear system depending on which way it went while you were
bleeding the brakes.

If you don't have that part, beats me what happened

Cliff Daniel
Tempe, AZ

66 Fastback
members.cox.net/cwdaniel/


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