Anyone ever bleed their brakes?
4th Gear Member
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 1,899
From: Assachusetts
RE: Anyone ever bleed their brakes?
Line locks are simple it shouldnt take more than two hours.....Its all simple connections and then you bleed them.You need two people
ORIGINAL: roundman
quote:
ORIGINAL: DaGGer
yes i though you just put the line lock in the brake system for the back brakes and it just cuts them off
WRONG! a line lock goes in the front brake system (on a rear wheel drive car) so you can lock and hold the front brakes while leaving the rear brakes off so you can spin the rear tires without dragging on the rear brakes shoes which wears them out prematurely
quote:
ORIGINAL: jdaniel
Whats so hard about it? I would also like to attempt this stunt you say is so hard? What all does it entail?
jd I can't speak to your newer Stang, but on my 5.0 it took the purchase of the line lock itself, an install kit which consisted of three different lenghts of pre-made brake line tubing with fittings on each end, and a Mustang metric fittlings kit which allows you to use the three line install kit. I got mine from Hurst and the package price was about $145. You have to find a location to mount the solenoid close enought to the master cylinder that the various brake lines can reach and still connect to the factory lines, in my case since I had already removed the windshield wipers and motor, I mounted mine on the firewall right next to the brake booster. then you have to run a hot wire from the positive side of the battery circuit to it and attached the ground wire to the chassis which is easy enough to do for most people. then you have to run a wire inside the car for the switch which turns it on when you press down and hold the switch. the switch in the kit comes with a large rubber band mounted to it which allows you to slide the band down over the gear shifter shaft after you remove the handle. you want the switch located where you can hold it with a finger or thumb while moving the gear shifter with your left hand on the steering wheel. there is also a small red indicator light that you can mount on the dash that lights up when you press down the switch to let you know the line lock is on. now for the fun part of the install. Fox body Stangs have a safety device built into the brake system that complicates installing a line lock (don't know if they still use this in newer ones, but can't think of a reason why they would have done away with it either). This device looks like a proportioning valve but it ain't, it senses the loss of hydraulic pressure from either side of the master cylinder and an internal spool valve moves so that the still working portion of the master cylinder can supply hydraulic brake pressure to one rear and one front brake so you don't loose all the brake pressure to either the front or rear brakes if there is an internal failure in the master cylinder. this means there are two separate lines potentially supplying pressure to the front brakes, not just the one leaving the master cylinder nearest the brake booster, so you have to think a bit and figure out which lines go where and then decide how to install a tee in the correct lines so that the
line lock will function correctly and only lock the front brakes. the instructions that come with the kit don't exactly make this real clear either. anyway, once you figure it out, you have to disconnect the appropriate lines, find the correct adapter fittings to make the connections with the new sections of tubing and the old lines, bend the lines with a tubing bender so they fit properly and reach where they need to go, and properly connect all of them tighly so there are no leaks in the system. you also need to keep the lines away from the heat of the headers so the brake fluid won't get boiled causing a loss of brakes!
this is much easier said than done as the engine compartment is rather crowded over by the master cylinder and it takes some clever thinking to route the lines properly. anyway, once you've done all this, then you get to bleed all the brakes both front and rear because of the air that will get into the brake system when you disconnect the various lines. if it won't for the Ford design with the brake safety feature, it would be lots easier to do as the line lock solenoid just needs to go in the line between the master cylinder and the single line going to both front brakes so that after you press down the brake pedal and hit the switch, the solenoid closes trapping the pressure on the front brakes and you can let off the brake pedal which releases only the rear brakes so you can do big smokey burnouts without the brakes lights shining out the back of the car! LOL
by the way, don't forget to install the proper plug the in the pressure gauge port of the solenoid or you'll shoot brake fluid out all over the engine compartment when you press the brake pedal and this makes a real mess of things.
quote:
ORIGINAL: DaGGer
yes i though you just put the line lock in the brake system for the back brakes and it just cuts them off
WRONG! a line lock goes in the front brake system (on a rear wheel drive car) so you can lock and hold the front brakes while leaving the rear brakes off so you can spin the rear tires without dragging on the rear brakes shoes which wears them out prematurely
quote:
ORIGINAL: jdaniel
Whats so hard about it? I would also like to attempt this stunt you say is so hard? What all does it entail?
jd I can't speak to your newer Stang, but on my 5.0 it took the purchase of the line lock itself, an install kit which consisted of three different lenghts of pre-made brake line tubing with fittings on each end, and a Mustang metric fittlings kit which allows you to use the three line install kit. I got mine from Hurst and the package price was about $145. You have to find a location to mount the solenoid close enought to the master cylinder that the various brake lines can reach and still connect to the factory lines, in my case since I had already removed the windshield wipers and motor, I mounted mine on the firewall right next to the brake booster. then you have to run a hot wire from the positive side of the battery circuit to it and attached the ground wire to the chassis which is easy enough to do for most people. then you have to run a wire inside the car for the switch which turns it on when you press down and hold the switch. the switch in the kit comes with a large rubber band mounted to it which allows you to slide the band down over the gear shifter shaft after you remove the handle. you want the switch located where you can hold it with a finger or thumb while moving the gear shifter with your left hand on the steering wheel. there is also a small red indicator light that you can mount on the dash that lights up when you press down the switch to let you know the line lock is on. now for the fun part of the install. Fox body Stangs have a safety device built into the brake system that complicates installing a line lock (don't know if they still use this in newer ones, but can't think of a reason why they would have done away with it either). This device looks like a proportioning valve but it ain't, it senses the loss of hydraulic pressure from either side of the master cylinder and an internal spool valve moves so that the still working portion of the master cylinder can supply hydraulic brake pressure to one rear and one front brake so you don't loose all the brake pressure to either the front or rear brakes if there is an internal failure in the master cylinder. this means there are two separate lines potentially supplying pressure to the front brakes, not just the one leaving the master cylinder nearest the brake booster, so you have to think a bit and figure out which lines go where and then decide how to install a tee in the correct lines so that the
line lock will function correctly and only lock the front brakes. the instructions that come with the kit don't exactly make this real clear either. anyway, once you figure it out, you have to disconnect the appropriate lines, find the correct adapter fittings to make the connections with the new sections of tubing and the old lines, bend the lines with a tubing bender so they fit properly and reach where they need to go, and properly connect all of them tighly so there are no leaks in the system. you also need to keep the lines away from the heat of the headers so the brake fluid won't get boiled causing a loss of brakes!
this is much easier said than done as the engine compartment is rather crowded over by the master cylinder and it takes some clever thinking to route the lines properly. anyway, once you've done all this, then you get to bleed all the brakes both front and rear because of the air that will get into the brake system when you disconnect the various lines. if it won't for the Ford design with the brake safety feature, it would be lots easier to do as the line lock solenoid just needs to go in the line between the master cylinder and the single line going to both front brakes so that after you press down the brake pedal and hit the switch, the solenoid closes trapping the pressure on the front brakes and you can let off the brake pedal which releases only the rear brakes so you can do big smokey burnouts without the brakes lights shining out the back of the car! LOL
by the way, don't forget to install the proper plug the in the pressure gauge port of the solenoid or you'll shoot brake fluid out all over the engine compartment when you press the brake pedal and this makes a real mess of things.
5th Gear Member
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 2,010
From: Northern Wisconsin
RE: Anyone ever bleed their brakes?
bleeding brakes is by far one of the simplest things in the world, ( not saure what the bolt is) but loosen ita little, put a tube on it, and stick it into a clear cup, make sure you have some clean brake fluid in the cup, just enough so that when your friend pushes on the brake, you can see air bubbles come out of the line and inmto the cup, you can then determine also if you need to bleed your whole vbrake system because of how it looks, if your brake fluid comes out nice and dirty, probably time to change it, o and im not sure about this one, i htink you have to remove the cover off of the master cylinder also, and when your done with that side of the brakes do the other side, then move to the back or front, and dont forget to top off your master cylinder when your done.
6th Gear Member
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 10,639
From: IL
RE: Anyone ever bleed their brakes?
it senses the loss of hydraulic pressure from either side of the master cylinder and an internal spool valve moves so that the still working portion of the master cylinder can supply hydraulic brake pressure to one rear and one front brake so you don't loose all the brake pressure to either the front or rear brakes
4th Gear Member
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 1,404
From: United States
RE: Anyone ever bleed their brakes?
ORIGINAL: Branden99GT
How do you bleed the brake system though? anyone know? I need to bleed mine now.. sucks
How do you bleed the brake system though? anyone know? I need to bleed mine now.. sucks
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