Hi all,

questions regarding issues with the brakes. We have just performed a Stanza disc front end swap on my 85 ute.

After the swap, we noticed that it was difficult to get much pedal feel with the brakes. Literally bled it for nearly an hour before giving up and gingerly taking it around the block for a test. This showed that there was definitely power there, just a very squishy pedal feel.

Had some more work done on it today, including replacing rear cylinders/shoes, and now there is more squish in the pedal. Problem is now, the pedal will sometimes go all the way to the floor, before gaining some pressure and coming on.

Obviously the result at the moment isn't right, but anyone have any ideas? Is the pedal feel a bit soft with the disc/drum setup? Need for a booster maybe? Sound like the master cyl needs replacing/rebuilding?

Any help much appreciated

There is a residual valve in the master cylinder for the front brakes, you need to remove it from where the front brake line screws into the brake master, this doesnt sound like your main issue but is essential, i think you maybe need to bleed again, bench bleed your master then bleed longest lines first to shortest lines, wind on your rear drums tight before you do this and re-adjust afterwards. You do not need a booster that only aids in brake feel but is required if you need to engineer.

Pic here is for rear line but same goes for front on a ex-drum brake setup, its the little rubber valve there.




Who said to use the stanza stuff, its a pretty nasty setup.

awesome, thanks for the tips. will have a look again this weekend, see what we can sort.

Stanza gear came with the car when i bought it. Seemed like an easy way to go. Any particular reasons you aren't fond?

They are longer than the standard strut so your loosing suspension travel, then if you lower the car your loosing more suspension travel, so at some point maybe look at cutting down the tubes and get inserts from a z-car or similar, basically you can just bolt a nice short strut in there and normally get vented brakes at the same time you just have to change the spring seat to a smaller one.

ah, k. the struts have already been cut down. but yeah, you are right about the non ventilated brakes.

What master cylinder if currently on the car
And is it boosted ?
Did you replace the master with the appropriate larger cylinder needed ?

Are the calipers correctly positioned with the bleeders at the top... air rises

Pics of it all ?

Calipers are correct, yes.

No booster.

Was told the current twin res m/c would be sufficient. Will gladly upgrade if its necessary. 13/16 a better plan?

Gotta excuse the ignorance, crossing over from bmw e30s, so it's a steep learning curve so far.

Thanks for the help.

alright. finally got it sorted. had no luck with further attempts to bleed.

Rang a mobile brake place, and him come have a look. Determined the m/c was shagged. Upgraded to the larger 13/16 at the same time, and new lines.

Damn, all done, way better.

Still running un-boosted, so a bit firm, but not really a problem. Only had her out for a brief test, but very happy.

Thanks for the help on here, and will get a project thread with oics going soon.

Btw, brake guru was Mark from Mobile Brake Repairs. Google for details. Very happy with his service and can definitely recommend! All this was sorted within 24hours thanks to Mark.