FYI-Fixed a long, ongoing brake problem
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 4,756
Likes: 2,506
From: Buckeye, AZ
St. Jude Donor '12-'13
FYI-Fixed a long, ongoing brake problem
Over the last year I had an ongoing brake problem. I would intermittently get a soft brake pedal. If I immediately hit the pedal again the brakes were fine. After rebuilds of the calipers and numerous bleedings, I decided to rebuild the master cylinder (It was cheaper to replace, but I wanted to keep the original casting). The rebuild was fairly easy; all work under an hour. I bled the system a number of times. SUCCESS!!!! The brakes are firmer than ever, with nos soft pedal, ever! The only addtional info is bleed the brakes per the Chevy manual. Normally you would bleed longest line to shortest, but on Corvette only (per the manual) you bleed LR,RR,LF,RF. Previosuly we were bleeding by the longest to shortest method and could not get a good pedal. When doing it properly it bled perfectly. thi is the happiest I've been on a fix in a long time. Iffy brakes are not fun to drive with! :mad :smash: :mad :smash: :mad :smash: :auto: :party:
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 8,339
Likes: 24
From: I can walk to MA
Re: FYI-Fixed a long, ongoing brake problem (gliot1)
Yeah - mine were like that - and temperature dependent. Cool mornings
would give a pedal to the floor - barely stopping at the end of the driveway.
After a few stops - all was great. Warm days posed no problem.
I knew it was the MC - replaced with a cheap unit from Pep Boys - or someplace.
That POS was worse than the original - plus I needed to grind the pushrod a
bit to get it to fit into the MC correctly. They argued all kinds of things -
from bench bleeding to pressure bleeding. The $25 MC is still sitting on top
of my water heater. The original went back in. Now - I got smart and bought
the rebuild kit.
Like you - I will realize the vette braking power that I've been missing.
:seeya
[Modified by NHvette, 5:52 PM 8/6/2003]
would give a pedal to the floor - barely stopping at the end of the driveway.
After a few stops - all was great. Warm days posed no problem.
I knew it was the MC - replaced with a cheap unit from Pep Boys - or someplace.
That POS was worse than the original - plus I needed to grind the pushrod a
bit to get it to fit into the MC correctly. They argued all kinds of things -
from bench bleeding to pressure bleeding. The $25 MC is still sitting on top
of my water heater. The original went back in. Now - I got smart and bought
the rebuild kit.
Like you - I will realize the vette braking power that I've been missing.
:seeya
[Modified by NHvette, 5:52 PM 8/6/2003]
Race Director
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 11,601
Likes: 0
From: San Francisco CA
St. Jude Donor '07
Re: FYI-Fixed a long, ongoing brake problem (gliot1)
Normally you would bleed longest line to shortest, but on Corvette only (per the manual) you bleed LR,RR,LF,RF. Previosuly we were bleeding by the longest to shortest method and could not get a good pedal. When doing it properly it bled perfectly. thi is the happiest I've been on a fix in a long time. Iffy brakes are not fun to drive with! :mad :smash: :mad :smash: :mad :smash: :auto: :party:
Safety Car
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 4,078
Likes: 27
From: Northeast South Dakota
Re: FYI-Fixed a long, ongoing brake problem (Buffalo Dude)
Why would you go shortest to longest? That seems counter to how it's normally done. Is it just one of those quirks on owning a corvette? :confused:
-Justin
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 4,756
Likes: 2,506
From: Buckeye, AZ
St. Jude Donor '12-'13
Re: FYI-Fixed a long, ongoing brake problem (gliot1)
You can get them through the Corvette suppliers, or as I did, went to my local CarQuest and ordered it for $32.00. I bought a bench bleed kit for another $6. While I had the MC off, I repainted it as well. It was an easy rebuild. Put it in a vise, compress the piston and remove the secruing clip. Remove the front piston, apply compressed air through the rear hole to remove the rear piston. Clean the cylinder thouroughly with brake fluid and use crocus cloth to clean any scale or hardened fluid off the cylinder. Make sure everything is clean and flushed with fluid. Replace the seals on the rear piston. The kit provided an entire new front piston; replace it. Compress the pistons with a phillips and insert the securing ring. Bench bleed the cylinder and put it back on the car! Bleed the system. The whole removal and rebuild took about an hour max. :chevy :chevy :chevy
Team Owner
Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 26,555
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From: Florida
2021 C2 of the Year Finalist - Modified
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St. Jude Donor '03 thru '26
Re: FYI-Fixed a long, ongoing brake problem (Dalannex)
gliot1: Thanks for the great info. :)
