Re: need help diagnosing brake issue
 

Had a similar issue with my sons fox body mustang with all Strange parts. Come to find out the pedal ratio was the problem. Change to aftermarket pedal and rod assembly to change the ratio. The problem was the pedal was not pushing the rod into the cylinder 100%. Thus trapping air. After that i put the pressure guage on each caliper to verify and adjust the strange proportioning valve to the desired front to rear split. Only other issue i have seen with others is not getting all the air out of the line lock, you may have to activate a few times when bleeding. Hope this helps.

Re: need help diagnosing brake issue
 

I had trouble with Strange masters on my 3400lb Mustang. They are 1.125 bore and that is a bit big for manual brakes. I have a pair of step bore masters now. An early Monza with an .875 bore is in it now and I have one from a 85' S 10 that is .945 bore. Both give me 300psi with a light foot and 1000 with effort. I'm 74. Step bore or quick takeup masters are hard to bleed. It is important to not rush this step with any master. Wait 30 seconds between presses to be sure the cylinders are recharged, I use a stopwatch.

Re: need help diagnosing brake issue
 

I'd say the reason the pedal gets better when you pump it is the pads move out towards the rotor with the first pump so they have less to travel on the next pump. People tried springs to push the pads back and eliminate any drag from the pads rubbing the calipers. What happened was the first pump went almost to the floor. Just like when you do a disc brake job and push the piston back. You have to pump the pedal to move the pistons back out.
Someone mentioned pedal ratio which is important, usually 6:1 or better. You also have to be sure that the pedal can push the MC all of the way to bottom. You them have to be careful when you adjust the pushrod as sometimes you can cause brake drag especially when the brakes get hot.

Re: need help diagnosing brake issue
 

Pedal ratio is 7:1


Ok, I have a game plan.



1) going to check out MC pushrod travel and see if I'm getting a complete stroke.


2) Since I've been swapping lines on the MC, I will thoroughly bleed the brakes again, then as mentioned, remove the lines at the caliper and cap them. Not sure what I will cap them with, but a short flare plug would be great as not to add a lot of air.


3) If the light bulb doesn't turn on at that point, I'll add a couple of check valves to the MC. I see they're only $20 a piece, a cheap test.


So I do have springs on all the calipers, and yeah it makes since that it could be part of the problem. But as I've mentioned this issue started at day 1, the springs hadn't been on for very long.


Ok, thanks again for the help. I'll update as I move along. gonna take a while........

Re: need help diagnosing brake issue
 

Two possibilities-
1- You have to bleed the gauge.
2- If you have moved the attachment point for the brake too far and created too much angle where the push rod enters the mc it will **** the piston and cause this problem.

Re: need help diagnosing brake issue
 

2) Since I've been swapping lines on the MC, I will thoroughly bleed the brakes again, then as mentioned, remove the lines at the caliper and cap them. Not sure what I will cap them with, but a short flare plug would be great as not to add a lot of air.
Not sure what type lines you have or how they attached to the caliper. If they have flared lines get a line union that fits the flare nut and a plug for the other side. If it's a banjo just use copper washers and a nut and bolt.