:confused: I put a rear disk brake on my 69 chevelle using those seville e brake style calipers. I replaced the porp valve with the correct 4 wheel disk brake unit. My problem is I cant get a hard pedal Unless i pump it up. I bleed them tons of times, and no air is coming out. I even bled the rear calipers upside down and everything where the valve is facing up. Anybody have this problem? And also, i pump the pedal till its hard, start the engine, hit the throttle and the pedal goes right to the floor! Is that a bad booster?

The emergency brake must be adjusted properly BEFORE bleeding the brakes.
Much easier said than done.

Now----on top of that----you must use your e-brake on a regular basis to keep the calipers and pads adjusted.

Might have to remove the caliper from the mount and tip it so that the bleeder is straight up. On my 59 I had to do this and I used a 1" block between the pads to keep them in place while I did this.

Somewhere in the tech section of Classic Performance Parts is a write up on this.
Careful with this as there are a couple of technical typos in it.

The idea is to remove the e-brake lever and with a 9/16 socket or wrench, tighten the pads to the rotors and then re-install the lever. (fluid will leak out of the adjusting bolt when you do this)
Be careful not to lose the sealing washers or o-rings when you remove the lever.

I actually tightened mine pretty tight, and still do not have the holding power I would like with my parking brake.

Personally-----If I had to do it over again (and I kind of am with the 66), front discs only would suit me just fine. I am not all that impressed with the stopping power of the power 4-whl discs on the 59.

Thanks for the info, but that would make my pedal feel that way? And how come when I hit the throttle, my pedal feel gets worse?

pedal feel gets worse because of a change in vacuum assist.

The reason the pedal is soft in the first place is that the pads have retracted away from the rotors (pull a rear wheel and check).

The emergency brake lever is doing this believe it or not.
Took me quite a while to get mine figured out-----but when I did-----instant pedal.

Now my pedal is nearly hard as a rock and initially grabs real good-----then I lose some vacuum and it gets harder to stop.
(not all the brakes fault----I require a 7" booster for clutch and valve cover clearance, and I really need a much larger unit)

Once you get those calipers adjusted right, you will be amazed at the difference in the pedal feel

I am using Cadillac rear discs on the Nova. The parking brake is critical as Bryan has stated. In a normal caliper the piston is pushed out by the fluid and can only retract few thousands of an inch to cut down on drag. With the park brake type calipers it is the adjustment screw that sets the position of the piston in the caliper. Frequent use of the park brake keeps the caliper adjusted for optimum pad to rotor clearance. Initial adjustment is needed prior to bleeding and the bleeder needs to be at the top. I also have to use a block of wood when bleeding as the caliper mounted position does not have the bleeder at the top on my car.

So is there anything I should know about adjusting the e brake on these calipers? I have done everything else about cars but brakes, so its a first, so any info on step by step and how to adjust them, Thanks

Dan I hate to send you to a Ford site (http://classicbroncos.com/reardiscs.shtml), but there is some good info about the Cadillac rear brakes. While you read that tech article I will see if I can find some more info from the manuals I have in the shop.

Ok here is a scan of the 1982 Chiltons Manual on the rear adjustment procedure.

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j199/64elcamino/77%20Nova%20project/brakes/Image3-1.jpg

Everybody here know's about my homemade el-cheapo "pdqCBB" 13" front and 11.75" rear disc brake set-up.

So, question???????

How do I tighten up the in/out "float" of my stock 12-bolts axles so that I can hold my 1980 Cad Seville e-brake calipers solid??????????

pdq67

Have you checked for wear on the axle where the c clip installs and also wear on the c clip? I think that thicker than stock c clips are also available through GM parts.

Well I ditched the seville calipers, and went with the S10 front calipers with out an ebrake. Still have the same problem, no pedal what so ever. Could it be the p valve stuck? i understand there is a check valve in there that can only allow fluid pressure to the front and not the rear.?