Got ready to take my 70 SS 396 out for a drive today, put the trans in reverse put my foot on the brake pedal and it went to the floor! Not a good way to start out the day. Next I took the cover off the master cylinder (the car has factory disc/drum brakes and the bail style master cylinder) the large front reservoir is full right where it should be, but the small rear reservoir is empty. I checked all four brakes and all the lines and find no leaks. Next I checked the power booster and the one way valve, the valve is good, and I took a two foot lenght of white 16ga wire and and ran it in the hole for the one way valve and pushed it down to the bottom of the power booster, no fluid showed on the wire?? So where did the brake fluid go? I don't know what else to check. Should I just fill the rear reservoir back up and see what happens? Please help an ol'guy out, Thanks:confused: :confused:

I would say check the rear wheel cylinders for the drums. Could be leaking from the front side, not the back connection at the line. (if you havn't already) Other than that, if you can't find leaks, i would say bench bleed the master, then bleed the all the brakes again, and go from there inspecting for leaks along the way.

Thanks for the information onick.

While Onick didn't actually say it he meant to take off both rear wheels and brake drums and look within for leakage. No short cuts allowed!

While Onick didn't actually say it he meant to take off both rear wheels and brake drums and look within for leakage. No short cuts allowed!
You got me!:D That is what I meant. It was in my head, just didn't make it to the keyboard!:)

Thanks guys, this weekend I will check everything out and I will let you know what I find.

Well I finally got the rear drums rebuilt, I replaced everything. The old wheel cylinders were leaking. Now, I have an other question. Is there an easy way to check to see if the rear brakes are adjusted right?

Well I finally got the rear drums rebuilt, I replaced everything. The old wheel cylinders were leaking. Now, I have an other question. Is there an easy way to check to see if the rear brakes are adjusted right?

After everything is bled, I usually adjust the pads so that the drum is pretty snug when putting it back on. Then, i will do a couple of hard stops in reverse. This is the way i have always done it.

Sounds like I did it right, I took it out for a test drive on Sunday. I had brakes, but it did not feel like it was stopping as good as it should.

Did you brake in reverse to adjust the shoes? If you don't do that, the brakes will work but the pedal will be low. Those self-adjusters can be finnicky sometimes, sometimes they need to be taken apart, cleaned and lubed a little bit to work right.

In your first post, you said that the pedal went to the floor. This could indicate that there's also something wrong with the front brakes. If the rear brakes are out, you should still have some pedal if the front brakes are ok.

Braking hard on a dirt road is my favorite method of checking for even brakes. This will tell you if you're driving around with rear brakes only. :eek:

Yes, I went in reverse about 10 times and braked hard every time. I'll put a few miles on it and see if it get's any better. Thanks guys.

I will usually install the drum and use the small slotted "window" behind to adjust the rear drums. Adjusting them up until there is an obvious light drag on the drum. If I can, I will then pull off that drum and do the other side the same way. Because there would be no drum on the adjusted side to help the axle turn easier.

You can use a tool which measures the inside diameter of the drum. You then flip the tool over and use it to measure your brake shoes. You would then use the adjuster to closely match the inside diameter of the drum to the outside diameter of the shoes. put the drum on and you are good to go.

Took it out yesterday, done some hard braking through some twisty's and and turns for about 20 miles. It's stopping a lot better and quicker now. It will do until I put rear disc on. I'm going to start a new thread about rear disc brakes. Thanks for all the help.