71VetteLover

All you have to do is take the master cylinder lid OFF, fill it completely full, then crack the bleeders open one at a time until you see a steady drip drip drip drip drip drip drip drip drip drip. And while they're dripping keep the master cylinder full because if it runs dry air will get into the brake lines again.

And your master cylinder push rod needs to be adjusted short enough to allow a TINY bit of brake pedal movement before the rod touches the piston in the master cylinder.

san

If you can find new callipers for 70 bucks order me 10....i plan on buying a couple more vettes...locally here they are 200-250 for last line...first line(ss-new) will cost 300 plus....my callipers looked like new BECAUSE they were SS...kits here are 25+....if you dont feel comfortable rebuilding a calliper, maybe you should consider having your replacement work inspected as well. Personally, im not comfortable relying on 3rd world country's mass pruducing parts that have close to a 50 percent fail rate.

san

Maybe the second person wasnt holding brake down hard, or letting it up after it collapses during bleeder brake...i prefer to use a jig or stick to hold pedal after i pump them up. We have all had bad experiences with brakes. The vacuumn is just that a vacuum...it tends to lock the proportioning valve which wont let any fluid through...but hey...i bet your PV is nice and free now!!!

san

Your right....i actually worded that wrong...suppose to be inner, inner, outer, outer, then inner twice more to check for air...it takes from 8-10 full flow pumps for fluid to make it back to calliper. So any lines opened or air introduced takes alot of fluid to get pushed all the way back.....and ideally you should do the back callipers twice.

HeadsU.P.

I believe its:
Right rear Inner
Right rear Outer
Left rear Inner
Left rear Outer
Then fronts.
I never heard of applied vacuum locking the Proportioning Valve. For that valve to trip, it takes substantial pressure from the brake pedal and loss of pressure somewhere down stream. That is why you must insert the $15) centering tool in the P.V. if you insist on using the "pedal-pump" method. That tool is not needed with the vacuum or Motive bleeding methods. Those will not trip the PV.

Taijutsu

I have two words for this: SPEED BLEEDERS
They work much better and easier.

jb78L-82

Sounds like you have something else going here...bleeding a C3 brake system is not hard IF the system is operating correctly which your's clearly is not with stuck brake proportioning valve, master cylinder issues, no fluid coming from a caliper bleed screw etc. I have probably gravity bled my system 10X since 1983 and with no special tricks, special sequence of bleed screws on a particular caliper, etc....always start with the caliper farthest from the MC and bleed forward towards the front of the car....I could not even tell you what bled screw I do first on a particular caliper..You need to identify what is wrong first before attempting a simple brake bleed, otherwise you will just spin your wheels with this issue.

CMax1974

I wanted to give everyone an update :

I went to remove to passenger rear caliper and the connector that screws the brake line into the caliper is rounded off and i cant get it to budge. I'm going to use a torch to try and heat up the area around the connection to try and break it free. if that doesn't work, i'll probably take it to my mechanic guy. I'm all about fixing my own vehicles, and i read in a post on this board that if you're going to own an old corvette, ya better not be scared to work on it. My dad always had problems with the brakes on this car, so it's looking like a whole new system is in order. I was able to bleed all the other calipers just fine, I removed the PR caliper (except for the brake line) and what little i could see, the pistons looked fine, but i wasn't able to completely remove them so.. that's not much to go on.

I have about 75% brakes as it is, I drove it for a couple miles today and when i went to bleed the brakes earlier, a little fluid came out of the bleeder screws, so fluid is getting there, just not much. I agree with the post that no expense should be spared for a proper brake system. My car is too nice, to drive it without proper brakes. I have noticed driving it, that when you pass someone on a 2 way street, they stop looking at the road and look at your car as you all pass, all the while veering into your lane.

I'll report back with my progress.

Thanks again for all the helpful info!

Corey

HeadsU.P.

Hit that brake line connection on the caliper with some PB Blaster, wait a few minutes then try a line wrench. If it snaps off, its a short line for $12 from Vette suppliers. Just make sure you block off feed line with something while waiting for your new part. Otherwise you will drain the master. I don't like putting vise-grips on rubber brakelines. I think that is a bad policy

kansas123

Yes, I have noticed that happening on occasion....that's why I am anxious to get my stupid horn fixed........

CMax1974

I wanted to update everyone on whats going on with my brakes.

The LH Front caliper was busted so I replaced it with a new one and broke the brass line installing it, I changed the Hose and line from the APV to the caliper and my brakes are now holding without dropping to the floor.

My dad has had problems with the brakes since he bought it and he was a busy guy so he always sent it to mechanics to fix it, now looking at the brakes, almost every flange nut is rounded off since his mechanic buddies didn't have the proper wrenches, some even have
grooves on them where i assume vice grips were used to tighten them.

There is still no fluid coming to the RH Rear caliper so i assume there a blockage somewhere. I've ordered the brake line and hose kit from Zip Corvette so i'm just going to just change out every line and hose from the APV on back. I at least have the proper flange brake
line wrenches so nothing will be rounded off. I have a new caliper for the RH Rear ordered so i'll change it too when i make my way back there.

Now after this i need to fix my horn and the temp gauge..

It's been a bunch of BS but i'm making progress!!

Thanks for the help everyone!

CMax1981