Weeaaak Brakes.

[adumb]

my brakes are seeming extremely weak. even if i stomp on it, it slowly comes to a stop. i know that stock brakes aren't amazing on these, but i think they should be a bit stronger. any tips or even small upgrades? i was kinda looking at the gbodyparts.com 2.5" calipers and s-10 wheel cylinders.

 

[art]

Hows your engine vaccuum? I had a similar issue, changed the master, rebled the brakes..... still crummy stopping my 81 regal. Was sorting out an unrelated issue (ignition timing) and got it to idle with 16 inches of vaccum. It only had 8-10 inches previously and man did that make a difference.

 

[Phoenyx]

Also check your brake lines. Or if you haven't already, upgrade to those steel braded ones. When the rubber hoses flex, that's taking away from your braking.

Just an idea.

 

[84GP455]

Does your pedal go to the floor? re bleed them if it does. Check all wheels for leaks, master cylinders and all hoses and lines. Check your vacuum hose going to your brake booster, make sure that the hose is as short as possible to the booster and connected to a tall vacuum port on the manifold. :wink:

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Try this: click your parking brake down one or two clicks and see if the pedal is firmer. If so, it means you need to adjust the rear brakes. This works because the parking brake basically tensions the same thing the adjuster does in the rear drum brakes. If this does not help, does the pedal sink to the floor gradually? If so, the master cylinder is bad. I would also check the rubber lines too as they can become swollen with age and restrict fluid flow. I don't think you need to spend money on upgrades here, you just need to get the stock stuff working right. If you want to upgrade, it's not a bad idea considering the rather inadequate nature of the stock parts when driven hard, but upgrading likely won't fix anything that is wrong unless you inadvertently fix the real problem when you set up the new parts.

 

[adumb]

the pedal is firm and doesnt go to the floor. i have the comp cams magnum 280h... how would i go about checking the vacuum? thanks.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

A $10 vacuum gauge from Wal Mart?

 

[84GP455]

Well that explains it, the comp 280H cam is probably robbing you of vacuum. I have a 455 and run a comp 268H cam. The 280H seems a little bit radical for a 350 is it a stock 350? I did a little research and found this one on a blog

I used two 280H's on two different 350's. Idle on both was noticable and vacuum was right in the 12" - 13" range. Just barely enough for power brakes.

so there ya go.

 

[84GP455]

Here it is straight from Competition Cams


280H Magnum™ is best for the more serious street machines. This cam has a definite rough idle and will sometimes affect power accessories. It can be driven extensively on the street or raced on the weekends. The 280H needs an aftermarket torque converter, intake manifolds and headers.

 

[pontiacgp]

my brakes are seeming extremely weak. even if i stomp on it, it slowly comes to a stop. i know that stock brakes aren't amazing on these, but i think they should be a bit stronger. any tips or even small upgrades? i was kinda looking at the gbodyparts.com 2.5" calipers and s-10 wheel cylinders.

I'm running stock calipers up front with heat treated 10.75 rotors and EBC green brake pads and in the rear stock drums with the s-10 non power brake wheel cylinders and steel braided flex lines with synthetic dot 4 brake fluid....I can stop the car time after time without any fading quicker than most of the cars out there....I locked em up at 70 mph yesterday....if you read up on using a larger rotor there is very little advantage on braking distance is there is any at all....where the larger brake rotor comes in useful is on a race car where there is very severe braking...we run a bead fan to cool down the inside bead of the front tire because of the heat due largely from the heat transfer of the brake