LRPMAN

THese :crazy: Brakes are dringe me :crazy: . I bleed the brakes got a solid pedal. Let the car sit overnight and soft pedal. Pulled the air out again. Had good pedal then, Drove car 20 miles. AIR AGAIN. :cry . Is this the rear brakes PUMPING AIR? PO had a brake job done, they REPLACED 1 caliper (RF) the others are are REBUILT. If it takes all new so be it. Will take another crack at the bleeding. (Using a one man bleeder system, Mighty MAc).
:cheers:

wombvette

Yes, that is a common symptom of having runnout, and the things sucking air. You shoud check the runnout especially on the rears. Another thing. Just crack the bleeder and let it drain to bleed. That will introduce no disturbance to the system.

LRPMAN

That is a NEW TRICK to this OLDFART. :D Using RR396 Fluid since it does not bubble or draw moisture like normal brake fluid. Though that might help the problem. Looked at a whole brake system from Summit if things go real bad.
:cheers:
THanks for the advice! :D

turtlevette

you should consider going to the O-ring style pistons in your calipers. They seal much better and are less susceptable to air pumping.

jim

LRPMAN

Thanks Jim
OK, She has an unlimited budget on this car.
A, All new from Ecklers or Corvette Central
b. Wildwood system from Summit.
I want a 100% solid system for her to drive. We have all the tools but ZERO experience with this type of system. :cheers:

page62

Don't throw money at the problem because the fix is very cheap indeed.

You have an out-of-round rotor that is pumping air into the system. (I have heard of people removing the springs behind the pistons to stop this pumping. Don't know about its effectiveness.)

The best fix: Have the people who did your brake job remove the offending rotor and have it turned. That will solve the problem.


[Modified by page62, 4:59 PM 3/24/2003]

flynhi

Shim rear rotors for near zero runout.
Install Zero Tolerance pistons in Stainless Steel Sleeved calipers.
Enjoy.

Twin_Turbo

throw away brick haevy stock stuff and install better stuff.. ;) oh no, not a good option :)

turtlevette

If he bled the brakes and let the car sit overnight without driving it, he has more than a rotor runout problem. There is something wrong with the seals or pistons or bores in the caliper.

I would try the Wilwood system. The stock brakes on the C3 are crap. Sorry but its the truth.

jim



[Modified by turtlevette, 6:32 PM 3/24/2003]

Twin_Turbo

what wilwoods?

I think precision brakes offers custom wilwood kits for C3's w/GN calipers.

I have integra 6 pistons and am goiing to install those w/ integra 4's in the rear. Have figured out the brackets, now just need to make them.

427V8

I have brackets for Dynalites front and rear, GNIII's front on 12.19" rotors and could be convinced to finish the brackets for Superlite 6's....

obtw, All but the dynalites require bigger wheels...

Twin_Turbo

bigger wheels not a problem here, 12" wide 16" diam and 10" - 16" should be able to handle my calipers ;)

Marck

plbart3

I can't tell from your post what year you are talking about, but it looks like '81 from the flags. Out of round rotors are to be re-done or replaced. Zora never meant for us to ride around with the wobbles. That said, many rebuilt calipers still lack retro-fitted stainless steel linings. It is the nature of the Corvette not to be driven in winter. The original caliper cylinders oxidized, and the ring built by the oxidation trashes the seals pronto. If you put new seals in, they leak from where the oxidation used to be.

I learned this the hard way. I was told to replace all 4 calipers with stainless steel lined units. Bull doggie said I. But I never had brakes until I did. (Chain no stronger than weakest link syndrome.)

I have seen a couple of recent threads about stock brakes. I shopped for calipers and I'll tell you what. NAPA sells the things cheaper than anyone else at about $60 bucks a throw. Their cores are relined with stainless steel, but they usualy only have one bleeder. This is no doubt a cost saving device, but bleeders are cheap. Pull the plug and put a second bleeder in if that floats your boat and the NCRS ***** are watching. Or do what I do.

Get a bunch of teenage girls to twist the bleeder wrench and manage the bucket. They have a great time arguing with each other. It is the knowing foot on the pedal that matters. You tell them, OUT, IN etc. A learning experience maybe. Teenage girls can bleed the lines if need be. Same basic drill. Make sure your rotors are round and your master cylinder is OK. I have had too many troubles with wounded "rebuilt" master cylinders, and I will only go with new ones on any job I'm into. It is usally a matter of less than $50. and new ones last for years rather than weeks.

LRPMAN

No teenage girls on this job. ;) Only two old folks trying to get it right. :D THe car in question is a 1980. The PO got RIPPED for $3,200.00 for a brake job. Have the receipts from him. Get a GOOD PEDAL the last time I bleed the system. I use a Might Mac one person to bleed it. Corvette Central has NEW Stainless Calipers for $129.00 no core. YOIu say NAPA is good I will give them a ring. The Rotors on the rear look kinda beat for new in 1999, 1,500 miles ago. This car SAT or a while. WE are not going NCRS but will use iy as advertisment for our Leather Business. So the MOST IMPORTANT thing is SAFE. I am printing all the responses so I can refer to them.
WE used Wilwood on our sprint car so that is why I was looking at them.

:cheers:
( IS THERE A SPELL CHECKER ON THIS SITE?) My post reads like a 2 year old :smash:


[Modified by LRPMAN, 2:26 AM 3/25/2003]

SharkAttack

Tip: Type all responses in Word and run spell/grammar check, then copy/paste them into your reply. If you're truly worried about spelling & grammatical errors, this will fix the issue.

R. Bruno

The PO got RIPPED for $3,200.00 for a brake job. Have the receipts from him. .

Modified by LRPMAN, 2:26 AM 3/25/2003][/QUOTE]

$3200 :eek: That must be some sort of record!!!

joeveto

People might scream at me for this. But here is how I bleed the brakes. It takes me a few minutes, and I can do it alone. Story of my life.

Anyway, I take a clean glass jar half full of clean brake fluid. I run clear tubing into it. I then take the other end and place it tightly over the bleeder. Just before the bleeder, I try to loop the hose, to provide a sort of air lock. Then, I pump the brakes, and gently open the bleeder. Enough fluid should flow out to fill the hose to the end of the loop. If not, I tighten the bleeder, pump the brake, and then gently open again. Once enough fluid has built up, I gently pump the brakes. I push all the way down, and I lift half way, push down, lift half way, etc.

While I'm doing this, the lid of the master cylinder is off, so I can watch the level.

It rarely takes me more than a few pumps to purge the system and obtain a nice pedal feel.

Good luck with it!

LRPMAN

This Invoice was for $3912.40. He had a ton of other things done. The brake part of it (brake system, lines, Wheel Bearings, seals, labor etc) Was $3,125.08 to be exact. This was done by a nameless shop in Savannah Ga. THis poor guy spent $7,500.00 on the car from 1999 to 2001, the car then SAT till she bought it in March 2003. At the brake job she had 63,788 on the car (1999) the car now has 70,415. THat is not much usage for that kind of investment. The PO paid $8,600.00 in 1999 1 mo before the brake job.

Anyway, I tank all of you for your help and will advise asto the outcome.
:cheers:


[Modified by LRPMAN, 2:20 PM 3/25/2003]

page62

Joe's got it right. And I go one step further using a two-person method.

Open the bleeder. Pump the pedal and hold. Close bleeder. Release pedal. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat until no bubbles. This keeps the fluid moving in one direction only -- no reverse suction possible.

MN-Brent

I just did all the 82 brakes with VBP O-rings and new power booster.

I first gravity bled the brakes RRI RRO LRI LRO LF RF in this order and still wasn't getting a great pedal, even with tapping the calipers with a rubber mallet fairley vigorously.

I then went to 2 man method: in the same starting point above , we pumped it up 3X and cracked the bleeder. Did the 5X per bleeder and did this around the car twice.

Brakes are solid and like new now. I drove it for about an hour and they're still solid. Luckily my rotors and pads were like new and I dont beleive I have excessive runout.

Vette brakes work very good once they are properly set-up.

Brent....