hey all,
i've got a 72 malibu with power drum brakes all around. just today i found that the rod that connects to the brake pedal was in the wrong (top) hole, so i switched that around and now the brake pedal moves about an inch as opposed to like 8 inches... it's great. anyway, now when i press down on the pedal, something that sounds like a very loud air leak can be heard from inside the car. the moment you take your foot off the pedal it stops, but as soon as you press back down, there it goes. the brakes still seem to work fine though as far as i can tell.
is this normal? i don't think it is, but what do i know? any help sure would be appreciated, thanks.

It's a busted diaphram in the booster.

Ditto to the leaking diaphram.

It will get worse and the brakes will get harder to push. Time to replace the booster.

Bill C.

Sideburns...check to be sure that there is foam insulation riding on the shaft to the pedal inside of the plastic neck that connects to the booster. I had the same problem last night when re-installing a rebuilt booster (lots of noise), only to find that the insulation had slid out of that plastic neck and down the shaft to the pedal. I pushed the foam back in and all of the noise is gone now. It sounded really bad before, though everything worked perfectly...sounds like your problem exactly. I'm sure that you could have a more severe problem, hopefully not, but I thought that this may be worth checking first. Good luck!

Mike