COmputoman Posted September 9, 2008 Share Posted September 9, 2008 I know this may seem a bit obvious. I was installing my clutch/brake pedals onto my automatic to get ready for my manual swap. In the time being I was going to drive it with 2 pedals and a false clutch pedal. When I installed the new brake pedal I adjusted the rubber bumper a little too far forward. Ever since i have had my 260 its had really stiff touchy brakes. Finished up and then went to bed as I have to wake up soon enough to go to work in the morning... Already running late I realized that there was virtually no free play in my brake. As soon as I touched the pedal they were stopping my car. I knew that this couldn't be good, but as my car was working fine I was going to try my damndest to get to work on time. About 3/4 to the way there I noticed a horrible smell and saw smoke coming out from behind my car. Pulled over to the side of the road and slowed my speed to about 40. Pulled up to a stop light and my brakes just about locked up on me. When taking off I could hear all of the pads and shoes brake free of their semi locked position... Pulled over immediately and got out. All four tires were smoking . luckily I had pulled into a home depot. Walked inside and got a few wrenches. Out to the parking lot to adjust the little rubber bumper behind my pedal. After making this adjustment i tried my brakes out. Pedal falls to the floor. Check the engine bay. Brake fluid is leaking from the brake switch and from one of the reservoirs on the master cylinder. tightened up the leaky hose going to the switch and checked fluid levels. The levels looked ok. After my rotors stopped smoking I tried out the brakes again. Everything is now working alright, but the rotors are warped and in need of a machine shop. Again sorry if this seems infantile of me to not have this done correctly, I just wanted to gauge peoples interest and see if anyone else has had any similar experiences. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted September 9, 2008 Share Posted September 9, 2008 Free play in the pedal has been discussed quite a few times. My experience with it was on the clutch. I was at the track and the longer I kept driving the more the clutch was slipping. Same deal as the brakes though. When the master cylinder fully retracts it opens the port to the reservoir. If the port to the reservoir never opens what happens is the fluid expands as it gets hot. The hotter it gets the more it expands, which means the brakes or clutch get increasingly applied. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
COmputoman Posted September 10, 2008 Author Share Posted September 10, 2008 Replaced pads and machined rotors the yesterday. Still feel vibrations upon brake, but I think its the drums. one interesting thing I noticed. The rotor on one side was a lot more warped and glazed then the other. When replacing the pads on the more glazed side I could not compress one of the caliper pistons in without the other one coming out. The side that was less damaged did not have this problem. I eventually devised an idea to put something in between them and push them outward while adding shims each time to get them compress. Even after this it seems like they would want to return to their decompress state quickly after I pulled my "tool" out from in between the pistons. I eventually got the caliper to the rotor after struggling with it for about 30 minutes. Is this normal? Does this mean that the flow of fluid back to the master cylinder is somehow being blocked? Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deja Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 Been there done that too. The first time I drove my LT1 swap to work all went well on the way to work. But coming home after stopping at a lightI seem to loose power when I started out again. At the time I didn't associate it with braking. After starting out from the next light again I had no power and the tranny wouldn't shift out of 2nd gear. Then I smelled something hot, I was thinking tranny. I got out and saw the front brakes smoking. They freed up again after cooling for awhile and I was able to get home by only carefully applying the brakes. I adjusted the pedal and haven't had the problem again. I must have been luckier than you, it doesn't seem like I did and damage to the pads or rotors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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