Hey guys, so the car has been passed down to me, has been registered, its out of the garage, and I have started on the brakes. The Brake master cylinder was completely rusted and unusable so I got a replacement for it that im picking up to day. In the mean time I was trying to blow out the brake lines with a air compressor, but wasn't getting anything coming out the other end. Can anyone recomend some tips? Also anyother brake tips would help too. Im also cleaning up the wheel cylinders and drums ect. as they have been subject to some rust. Some pics are at the bottom and i would love some help. Thanks! Pete
Seeing how the M/C was that rusted, it would be smart to just replace the calipers and wheel cylinders too. The air might not be coming out of the rear because there is a valve in there to moderate the flow, so, 100 pounds of air might not be enough. The brakes operate on hurdreds of pounds of brake pressure. You might want to save the old wheel cylinders if they have the small bleeder valves, Concours cars got to have them. You could sell them to somebody.
The old wheel cylinders can be rebuilt. Rule number 1 is never ever throw anything away. You should get new brake lines, new fuel lines and a new fuel tank. They can proabably all be replaced for several hundred dollars. Prebent lines are available.
Yeah, if that's an original casting number master cylinder, places like White Post can make it look and work like new. It'd be a shame to let an original part like that get away. A few years ago I was concerned about the inside of the brake lines (the outsides were fine) of my older car. I replaced them all, and the rubber hoses. The repros were outstanding, and when I cut into the originals, I was right, they were corroded, so I was glad I did it.
I would recommend replacing all the brake lines metal and rubber,wheel cylinders, mastercylinder and the BOOSTER as the rubber in there is rotted. You will need to clean or rebuild the proportioning valve next to the booster and the check valve on the rear. The brakes on these cars are not that good when they are working right. So do not take a short cut. If you inherited the car you can afford to spend the money to do it right. Dominic
Dominic, Thanks for the advice. Is there a place you would recommend I can get these parts from? Is a pepboys good enough or should I be looking into Shelby specific parts? Pete
a word of advice on pepboys....if you can go anywhere else do....i took my volvo in for an oil change special there as it was ridiculously cheap...when i came back my drivers door was caved in....long story short they played a ton of games and it took 9 months and a lawsuit in small claims court to finally get them to pay up (to the tune of 1700bucks)i would have settled for the low bodyshop estimate of 900 bucks before the games began....needless to say i have not set foot inside a pepboys since ...They are REALLY BAD!!!!!!word to the wise...Trent