but only because my time is next to worthless :)
i think i fixed my brakes! we'll see tomorrow, though. but at least for the test drive this afternoon she was BEEEAAAAAUUUUTIFUL. nice and stiff, even the parking break is improved. before you had to really mash the parking brake down...like pushing off the seat back to get it tight enough to hold on a hill...kinda scary, but not when you consider the reverse lockout. to get the key out of my car there's a safety and anti-theft mechanism that locks the transmission in reverse and the steering wheel wherever you leave it. what that means is, in terms of rolling, it's not just the parking brake that's holding the car steady, but the transmission as well. if you've ever tried to manually turn an engine via crankshaft...it's a BITCH...and going backwards through the drivetrain would have even less leverage. it's not necessarily a brake, but it is a whole lot of inertia that requires momentum to get moving...momentum it'd never get with the parking brake on, even if it's not completely tight.
eeeeeither way, i came home early today ready to tear into that shit. i feared one or two of three things. first, i feared that my rear drum brake shoes were worn out...easy fix, maybe $60. second, i feared that my rear drum cylinder's were dead (the thing that actually transmits your foot power to the brake shoes). i don't know how much one'a those cost but it would be a bitch 'cause you gotta rebleed the system, which i did two days ago. bleeding it actually tightened the brakes a little...for...a day. still a pain in the ass. the last problem i suspected was the master cylinder and the power booster...basically the thing that multiplies your foot pressure on the pedal into a much higher force stopping 3400 lbs. of rolling metal.
i do know my master cylinder has a slow leak...unfortunately that leak COULD go into my power booster and be slowly eating away at my diaphram there (meaning power brakes go kaput). hope that's not the case 'cause those two pieces would prolly run about $140 (and a royal pain in the ass). i'll have to do it someday, but didn't want it to be today.
soooo opened up the drums in the back...and low and behold, my shoes have LOTSA life left in them. yippy. also...my cylinders were not leaking. rubber seals looked very healthy. of course the fact that those two didn't seem too bad made me scared that it was the expensive option #3 (MC and booster). but, taking a closer look i noticed that with the drum on and looking through the tiniest little check hole, the shoes were really far out of adjustment. so with a slipjoint and a screwdriver i adjusted the star wheel to put it back into specs and VOILA! my pedal travels about half what it used to, with SO much more power, and my parking break finally feels like it'll actually hold my goddamn car. they're supposed to be self adjusting but i think they got crudded up and froze. so i sprayed the shit out of 'em with brake cleaner...i hope they'll adjust now.
let's hope there's no more news on this issue :)
next on the list is some goddamn tires. my treads are almost gone on one of my rear tires...great thing to have on a car with a 350 V8, no?
*screeeeeech*
