I blew my transmission up last season and some of the major parts it took down with it include the emergency brake cable system. Well the car is back together now minues the e brake being hooked up. Anyways the front brakes hold fine but the back brakes dont hold at all or very little, heck even on jack stands and pressure on the brake pedal you can still turn the backs by hand. We are planning on replacing the brake hoses, proportioning valve. Well recently now there is very little pressure in the brake system and the pedal travels to the floor (softer and htis is a manual car). So now we also plan on replacing the master cylinder.

Heres my question, tonight i was remembering how the e brake system is somewhat connected with adjusting the brake shoes everytime you use the e brakes. If my ebrake system isnt hooked up is it possible that this could be the culprit of my rear brake problems?

Sorry i should have had this at the begining its a manual front disc brake and rear drum car.

anythoughts? Thanks in advanced
Rob

Rob,
I guess my first thoughts would be if the tranny came apart hard enough to take out your emergency brake cable then I would inspect the rear brake lines from the mastercylinder back for any damage, dents or crushed lines.

If the pedal is going to the floor you either have alot of air in the system a leak or a bad master cylinder. If you pull off the rear drums and adjust the shoes manually to having just a slight drag on the drum then you can apply pedal pressure to see if you have any reaction at the rear drum. If not then the pressure is not getting back there. i.e. crushed brake line, leak or bad master cylinder.

And the rear brakes will work fine with out the e brake hooked up, I don't recommend driving it that way.

My guess is that the rears are out of adjustment... check them and adjust as neccessary.

Bill C.

will check lines and assemblage this weekend. Thanks fellas.

I had this same problem with my 70 Malibu. It turned out the wheel cylinders were plugged up or frozen. I put new wheel cylinders on both sides and, in fact, put all new parts - shoes, springs, etc. and then bled the lines and everything is fine.