soft brakes and sbc oil press. question

So I am waking the '65 SS out of a long slumber and need to iron out a few problems-
rebuilt the front brakes with new shoes and drums. Put the drums on and adjusted the shoes out till they were just touching the drums, I could spin the tires by hand when they were off the ground about half a revolution till the shoes stopped them, one side I didn't even have to move the shoes out at all. Backed the car up and drove forward a few times (is that how the "self adjusters" do their job? Went for a ride, brakes seemed okay at best. the pedal goes down about half way and then the brakes seem to grab pretty good. The pedal is firm just seems to go down farther than it should. Heres what I haven't done yet - redone the back brakes or bleed the brakes, the m/c was alittle low so I added some fluid. Will doing these things improve the brake feel or do I have other problems?
Secondly, the .040 over 350 in this car has only a few thousand miles. Ever since it was new it builds decent pressure under load (about 40 pounds) but at idle it drops to like 20 pounds, sometimes even lower when its warm. Is this a problem or pretty natural on SBC's? Someone once told me that maybe the cam bearings weren't installed right?? Any help, thanks-

 

As far as the brakes, I'd try bleedin 'em, it's free and easy, plus it wouldn't be a bad idea to flush the brake system anyway. With the oil pressure thing, it could just be a loose motor (large bearing clearances), which won't really hurt anything. I have also heard that if whoever built the engine didn't put in an oil pump gasket it could do the same thing.

 

Pedal travel is controlled by adjustment.Alot of travel means you need to adjust them up.A spongy pedal,if pedal comes up after a couple of pumps,means there is air.If the pedal fades while holding it down you have a bad master cylinder.It sounds to me like you should try to adjust up the rears just like you did the front.Hope this helps.

DAN

 

Many people say that if you are using a Fram filter, your pressure will be lower than with a good filter. The consensus is that Fram = Junk.

 

fluch fuid on brakes, adjsut rears, there is really almost no such thing as self-adjusting (they adjust but not well).

The oild pressure is gonna be pretty normal. Cam bearings can cause it, btu it is not a problem. PSI on a small block is 7psi per the book (safe level). fresh rebuild should'nt really have much drop, but its not gonna cause you a problem.

Hope it eases your mind a bit.

 

You definitely need to bleed the rear brakes, start over, bleeding the drum closest to the master cylinder and proceed till you reach the one that is farthest away, like left front, right front, left rear and then finally right rear, that's the proper sequence for bleeding the brakes. The oil pressure thing is something else; whoever told the guy that a Fram oil filter would cause lower oil pressure is full of horse****! Fram may not be the best filter and I really have know idea who's is the best, but they all should have the same effect on pressure. Like one of the guys already said, bearing clearance is what should control the oil pressure, along with whatever kind of pump is installed. As most of us know, the pump is torqued to the real main bearing cap and there is no such thing as a pump gasket! Somebody blew smoke up that guys *** as well! 10 pounds per 1000 RPM is a decent measure for a performance motor, 20 pounds at idle when hot, is more then adequate!

Shoe

 

I agree with John, 10 lb per 1000 rpm is the old standard. If your brakes are not spongy or do not build better pedal with pumping pedal would replace rear shoes. If any damp spots on wheel cylinders replace or rebuild.You can manually adjust self adjusting brakes just hafta push blade of small screwdriver in thru adjusting slot on backing plate push on self adjuster so you can back off about 12 clicks or so after tightening to point drum will no longer turn

 

If you're like me and rolling over into GM engines from Fords, the low - and normal - oil pressure on the GM engines is a bit of a surprise.

The GT390 I used to run idled at 30-35# when warm and the pressure at highway speeds were high 40's into low 50's depending on temp and load.

The 455 Buick I'm now running - as did the 327 in my 63 Chevy half ton from a few years back - runs 15-20# at idle.
The Buick runs about 48# at highway speeds with fully warm engine on a hot summer day. (100 degrees +)

Almost 39,000 miles on the engine with no problems.

[ QUOTE ]
Many people say that if you are using a Fram filter, your pressure will be lower than with a good filter

[/ QUOTE ]

I haven't seen that.
I ran Fram for a number of years and changed to Wix.
I do have some Frams I need to use up though and I'll make a point to look for a change, but I doubt if there will be a change.

Fwiw - I run mechanical SW oil press gauges and along with being reliable and consistent, they show pressure changes as small as 1#.

 

[ QUOTE ]
As most of us know, the pump is torqued to the real main bearing cap and there is no such thing as a pump gasket! Somebody blew smoke up that guys *** as well!

[/ QUOTE ]
I actually thought it sounded a little funny too.
I've never used one on any of the engines I've built, and they've all made good oil pressure.
That's why I said I have HEARD that, not EXPERIENCED that. But I thought maybe Somebody had some information that i didn't, so I put it in the filing cabinet in my head. Maybe he was talking about non- SBC's ??? I don't know... nevermind.... I'm just dumb...

 

Some of the guys I race with have experienced problems with Fram filters on a SBC, but only with a blocked byp***. I never plug the byp*** on any of my engines because I figure even dirty oil is better than none. Most of these guys have either quit plugging the byp*** or gone to another brand of filter. Usually a cheap store brand seems to flow the best although they probably do not filter as well. As far as the brakes go, they sometimes do feel a little soft until the pads or shoes "seat" to the rotors or drums especially if you did not have them turned.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think all the books say bleed the wheel FURTHEST away from the master cylinder first. This could be different if your using a power bleeder.

I agree with the others. Adjust the rear brakes and bleed the system to see if there is any difference in your pedal.

 

From what I've read, the Fram has less of those little holes on the end of the filter, that is why they don't flow as well, they also don't have as much filtering element inside as the other brands. I was going to post the site that I got this from, but the page that I know that links to it has been down for about a month.