Ok so the rear end conversion is officially done! The brakes however are officially still shot. The car has 4 wheel manual drum brakes, the 9 inch size. Before we swapped out the brakes I would depress the brake pedal all the way straining my leg and the car would slowly creep to a halt. With the new rear end setup I now have brand new 11 inch Ford Drum brakes with all new shoes, backing plates, drums, and hardware. The front still has the 9 inch drums but I swiped out the springs and shoes, no one had the right size drums in my area so I still have the old ones. I also swiped out the old master cylinder for a brand new one. We bled the lines and all the lines are bleeding clear and free of any air bubbles. We took it out for a test drive and the brakes are still shot. I have more pressure in the brake pedal (it's harder to push down) but still I get the pedal all the way depressed and still the car comes to a a very slow start, and evens seems worse than before almost not stopping at all!

I don't necessarily have the most experience working on drum brakes and I am wondering what in the world is going on. I have 2 possible ideas:

1. I need to adjust the brake screw adjuster so that the shoes start farther out. How far out are the shoes supposed to start if I push the shoes out to far the drum won't fit on. Do I need to go out just enough to squeeze the drum on and call it good? IT seems to me then that the drum might be rubbing against the shoes all the time.

2. The front wheel cylinders might be shot. This doesn't seem to make a lot of sense because if that was the case the swap out on the rear brakes should have had at least some improvement. It also seems unlikely that both would fail at the same time and I would notice a pull on one side over the other.

Right now it just simply seems that the shoes are not putting enough pressure on the drums to slow the car down fast enough/at all.

The car is my daily driver and as much as I hate taking the car to mechanics/brakes people, I need to have it up and running. Someone please help!

 

when you adjust the drums you want the shoes and drum to be just barely rubbing all the way around. try adjusting it by using the little star adjuster on the back of the drum

edit: oh and if the wheel cylinders were shot you would know it...usually there is very little brake pressure and after a few stops you are going to be in a lot of trouble, i know this from experience.

 

First, read the maintenance manual and adjust the brakes per the manual.

Since the same problem existed before as after, that would say that the items you changed didn't affect the original problem. First I'd start with the Master Cylinder and replace. Good opportunity to installa dual circuit if you don't already have one. If that doesn't it, then go to the wheel cylinders.

 

If you push on the pedal and it's solid, then falls to the floor slowly, you have a leak in the master cylinder. you should never be able to press the pedal all the way to the floor.

Sounds like you have the brakes bled well to get the solid pedal. Good practice for after the next master cylinder install.

 

he said that he had just replaced the master tho. there is a chance he got a bad one, thats happened to me before

 

I'm guessing he did a hold of a bad MC. It certainly could be elsewhere.

Maybe it's time for a disc brake upgrade....of course, that calls for a new MC anyway.

 

Believe me, a disc brake upgrade is in the future, as in when I got my tax refund check! But until then I need to get this thing up and running. I went back out and played with it a little more, I adjusted the brake screw adjuster on the front drums and it seemed to help. Its too dark out now to do anymore driving to see for sure, and I can't quite get at the back wheels until tomorrow when I have the right tools. I am really hoping that tomorrow morning I can get at all of the wheels and adjust the screw adjsuter and that should solve the trick.

Also I am not sure how much it is contributing to the problem but I am still using the old front brake drums that are worn out to the point that they cannot be turned. How much of an improvement can I expect if I get new ones on the front brakes?

 

well if your going to upgrade to disc later then go to discbrakeswap.com they sell a granada swap kit for like 545 and if you say you are part of the forum it goes down to 499+shipping. i plan on ordering mine tomorrow.

 

Ok problem solved! It was simply the brake screw adjuster on all four wheels, adjusted the shoes out farther and now the brakes work great, well as great as drums can, disc brake conversion can't come fast enough! The rear left brake adjuster screw was so loose it had fallen off and was chewed up inside the drum, oops! All fixed now! Thanks for all the help, me car and my life (brake safety) thank you!