I have a 54 Ford Mainline I picked up as a first project car, have no previous mechanical experience, just replaced the rear end and changed the rear brakes for new drum brakes. I cannot get the rear brakes to bleed though. Tried the 2 person pedal method and jury rigged myself a little vacuum bleeder with a shop vac, big jug and a hose that fit right over the bleeder ******s and got a few drops of brake fluid. The brake pedal does not feel any different than it did before I started and I still have front brakes. The braking system is all original as far as I can tell. I also tried to pump a bit of fluid back through the system like you would with a reverse bleed and it blew all of the fluid out of the M/C. Any ideas as to what the problem is? Will try suggestions when I have the time and ability.
Did you have brakes before? Did you rebuild the master cylinder? Did you replace the hose and lines? We need more information.
I am unsure as to weather I had rear brakes before or not, however when I pulled the lines that go to either wheel cylinder from the main line T the main line did drip very gradually. I did not do any work on the master cylinder and I did not touch the main line, I did flush the lines that go to the wheel cylinders with fresh fluid to clear any possible debris and I cleaned the threads and the flares as best I could.
Sometimes an old hose will be blocked internally and still look fine externally.I would recommend rebuilding or replacing the master cylinder,hose and lines.Brakes are a bad thing to guess at.Did you replace the rear brakes with original type brakes? Did you use new wheel cylinders or rebuild the old ones?
Yeah I am thinking I may need to redo the brake lines, I also want to get a dual master cylinder so may just overhaul the whole plumbing, and brakes are all new, upgraded to a ford 9 inch rear end so got completely new rear drum brakes, cylinders and all. Looks like after a week of being under the thing trying to make the new rear end fit and connect right I still got a lot more work to do before enjoying it. Thanks for the advice.
can you recommend any dual master cylinders? I have drum brake sin the front and the rear, I saw a video of some guy putting a fenco m1485 onto his 53 crestline so I think it would work, will need to do more research on it.
I have the original master cylinder on my 53,works less than the best! I recommend you convert to dual master cylinder and front discs. Easily done on your 54, do a search on here all the info you need.
Front discs will be down the road aways, have no money for em, saving up to buy a house trying to spend only a few hundred at a time on the car to get it driving and reliable to some extent. The inside of my master is real nasty so needs to be replaced anyways.
Did you replace the rubber brake line,if it's original ( 56 years old) it's probably soft inside and collapsing not allowing the fluid to p*** through. HRP
Doublecheck but I'm pretty sure it's a '67 Mustang drum/drum non-power brake master cylinder that will bolt onto your '54 without having to drill any holes. I don't remember if you use the original rod or the Mustang one. The old line that went to the rear goes up to the back of the new master, then you plug the spot on the old splitter that used to go to the rear and run the line up from that to the front of the master.
I did not replace any of the lines, I will, hopefully with my next pay check after Christmas shopping get new rear lines.
I'm pretty sure the Fenco M1485 is from 67 mustangs or is a replacement M/C autozone has em remanufactured for 45 bucks! seems I'll also need some fittings and adapters for the hoses.
Look at masters on Rock Auto, name brand although made in China for sure. Agree on Mustang drum-drum like a '67 to '70. You have to change the brake light switch location, either put one on the pedal or plumb in a hydraulic one below the master. Mine is on the proportioning valve.
I'll look into them, been doing some research and the Fenco M1485 is a 67 mustang M/C, I do not have a proportioning valve so I will just throw one on the pedal. Got to see if I can borrow my friends brake line tools so I can run an all new line to the back and be done with it, might as well if I'm going to be upgrading to dual M/C, will also check the front brakes and make sure the lines are not leaking or anything. I like how clean everything is in your pic, wish mine was like that haha. Also with the Fenco I can just use the original plunger so that will hopefully save some headache.
Here's a question I want to know and pertinent to this conversation, do you need a proportioning valve for the dual chamber master to keep brakes in the event of a line leak/blowout? Without the prop valve, if one line goes bad, will the brakes on the opposite circuit still work? I have heard conflicting stories about this.
I wonder this as well.. In my case I don't have any back brakes but I still have front brakes, however I'm not sure if I have a proportioning valve, I think I have a distributor block type of deal (may be the same?) which could have cut off the back lines so I don't lose all my braking power, as I only have a one bowl master cylinder. Unless I have a really bad clog in my real brake line...
One tip I learned here when bleeding, run the adjuster all the way up as tight as it will go so the shoes are up against the drum as far as possible and then bleed. If they are loose the piston may cover up the inlet port or somesuch.
If I were you I would replace EVERY brake line with new ones. Get a new master cylinder and rebuild or buy wheel cylinders for all wheels. Safety first[emoji844] Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Most Raybestos new units are made in China or India,the reason we have been recommending the Autozone Fenco rebuild in the 1952-59 Ford Group is that most of those cores might be Bendix which is a superior core have the counter guy pull out a couple and look for the Bendix stamp underneath.
I used a Speedway master on my Ford and it took the standard 3/16" line fittings, no adapters needed. I buy pre-made lines at NAPA. I get ones long enough so I can cut it into 2 pieces and only have to flare one end. You may even be able to do a whole system and not flare anything. Lines starts at 12" and goes up to 20", 30" up to 60". Just use unions to join shorter pieces. Some factory lines were put in while the car body was off the ch***is. A tough feat to repeat on a complete car.
That's the video I got the idea from! He lists all the adapters needed so that is my guide for the M/C replacement. I will be sure to check for the Bendix stamp when I buy it. Thanks for the help.
I know a few friends who have all the tools to do the bending and flaring, I'm thinking is getting rid of the old line is to difficult then I will just do a different path than the old one, maybe on a more accessible side of the frame, I saw a video of some guy doing a whole new system on his ch***is being on the frame. Seems doable if I can get the car up high enough, just need a friend with a lift I guess.
On my '59 Ford the old lines were in great shape and the car was rust free. I changed some up front when I did the disc conversion.
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