Help identifying brake part
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 107
Likes: 38
From: Raleigh North Carolina
Help identifying brake part
Hi everybody, I'm working on bleeding my brakes after I installed my new brake booster and master cylinder. Right now I'm dealing with the pedal going almost all the way to the floor with very little resistance, guessing I still have quite a bit of air in the lines. However after installing the brake booster and connecting the brake pedal I noticed the pedal isn't making contact with this electrical "button". First, what is this electrical part in the first pic and two, should the brake pedal be making contact with it when the pedal is at rest? Also, the clevis on the booster is all the way out so there's no way to adjust it any further out. Car is a 1970 454 with power brakes...obviously 
Chad
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Chad[IMG]
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Safety Car
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 3,547
Likes: 12
From: Carbondale Pa.
Did you bench bleed the master cylinder ? And as stated above that is your brake light switch , the plunger should be fully retracted until you step on the brake pedal. I hope this helps. Peace,,, moosie 
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 107
Likes: 38
From: Raleigh North Carolina
I didn't bleed the m/c because I was using the Phoenix reverse brake bleeder and didn't think it was required. Should I still go back and bench bleed the m/c then even with this method? As for the switch, if I understand correctly, when the pedal is not depressed, it should make contact with the switch and in turn when I push the pedal, it comes off the switch and lights up the tail lights? If so, as it sits, I'm not sure why the brake pedal isn't coming back far enough to engage this switch. Thanks for the help so far everybody...
Melting Slicks
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 2,520
Likes: 11
From: Hinckley OH
It doesn't sound like bleeding the master cylinder would help when using the reverse bleeder because any air in the lines would be pushed into the master cylinder. I would think that you would need the master cylinder to be level to reverse bleed so that there wouldn't be any chance of an air pocket in the master cylinder.
After reverse bleeding you might try gravity bleeding each of the calipers to make sure there isn't an air pocket in any of those. Just crack each bleeder screw long enough to make sure there isn't any air in the caliper. Remember, the rear calipers have two bleeder screws, one inboard and one outboard. And make sure you don't let the resevoir in the master cylinder go dry or you will have to reverse bleed again.
After reverse bleeding you might try gravity bleeding each of the calipers to make sure there isn't an air pocket in any of those. Just crack each bleeder screw long enough to make sure there isn't any air in the caliper. Remember, the rear calipers have two bleeder screws, one inboard and one outboard. And make sure you don't let the resevoir in the master cylinder go dry or you will have to reverse bleed again.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 107
Likes: 38
From: Raleigh North Carolina
It doesn't sound like bleeding the master cylinder would help when using the reverse bleeder because any air in the lines would be pushed into the master cylinder. I would think that you would need the master cylinder to be level to reverse bleed so that there wouldn't be any chance of an air pocket in the master cylinder.
After reverse bleeding you might try gravity bleeding each of the calipers to make sure there isn't an air pocket in any of those. Just crack each bleeder screw long enough to make sure there isn't any air in the caliper. Remember, the rear calipers have two bleeder screws, one inboard and one outboard. And make sure you don't let the resevoir in the master cylinder go dry or you will have to reverse bleed again.
After reverse bleeding you might try gravity bleeding each of the calipers to make sure there isn't an air pocket in any of those. Just crack each bleeder screw long enough to make sure there isn't any air in the caliper. Remember, the rear calipers have two bleeder screws, one inboard and one outboard. And make sure you don't let the resevoir in the master cylinder go dry or you will have to reverse bleed again.
