Brake Issues after upgrading to Z32 brakes

[OutToWinPAHC]

I upgraded from S13 brakes to Z32 brakes around the car right after I cammed the car. At first I had

Used 17/16 Z32 BMC
Used 30mm Iron front calipers
New rear aluminum calipers
Bone head conversion lines
Z32 backing plates and cables

After installing these the brake pedal movement was limited, they felt like manual brakes. So naturally we bled then and then bled them again.... no luck. Thinking the vacuum was low, I added a Vacuum reserve canister... and still felt the same.

I checked all the lines and hoses, all ok. I even took the vacuum off to see what the felt like and it was worse. I thought it may have been an issue with the BMC so I purchased another rebuilt one.... Still felt the same.

I added a vacuum gauge to my reserve canister..... Constant 14feet even hours after the cars been shut off (check valves are good, system is holding vacuum).

For Sh8ts and giggles I wanted to try a new booster.... jdmwill had a spare from his RHD master that was mint, and the abs type so larger. Swapped I it and nothing.

Now I don't know what to do. When I bled it from empty after the BMC was swapped the pedal could go to the floor, then after bleeding it only has a movement of 1.5 inch down before stopping.

The only thing left would be to rebuild the calipers I guess. But what do you guys think?

On the thread I made in the nico hybrid section someone said adjusting the booster rod for the new master? I have no idea what else to do, but these brakes feel horrible, I cant get them to lock, the pedal feels horrible almost manual.


Still felt crappy,

[OutToWinPAHC]

I am going to try this today
http://zilvia.net/f/archive-faqs/31732-no-more-spongy-brake-pedal.html

[lilrusty]

try backing off the adjustment on the brake pedal under the steering wheel. sometimes when adjusted to much towards the master will make everything real stiff and have no pedal travel. did it on mine when i had the same problem. i just backed off a couple threads and it made a real big difference.

[HYPNOTIK]

You should have checked the calipers a long time ago. I bet they are locked up.

[florante rea]

make sure you also check if you put them the right way, i remember doing mine and and i put them backwards. they worked, but felt spongy. after realizing it was backward and corrected it, everything went well. caliper should had been rebuild the first place for assurance.

[handinpants]

make sure you also check if you put them the right way, i remember doing mine and and i put them backwards. they worked, but felt spongy. after realizing it was backward and corrected it, everything went well. caliper should had been rebuild the first place for assurance.


put what in backward?

[GSXRJJordan]

put what in backward?

He means that he put the left caliper on the right side, and vice versa - if the bleeders don't sit on top, they'll never be able to bleed all the air out. It's also possible that the BMC wasn't bench-bled properly, or that one or more pistons in the calipers are frozen.

[Shadowhunter]

Might sound weird but.. If you got the stainless lines usually those are drilled out, I would check your lines and make sure they are drilled on both ends. I ended up getting a stainless clutch line for my Integra a long time ago and couldn't figure out why the shit would not bleed, took almost a whole day to realize the clutch line was not drilled on one end.

[s14owner95]

I've seen the problem too that the stainless lines didn't hold enough pressure, I know it's a long shot, but if you could somehow put the stock lines back on and "make it work" and see if that might be the problem. the problem we had was R32 lines on a 180

[OutToWinPAHC]

No the bled fine, its not a bleeding issue. I need to rebuild the calipers, so I am going to do that, then see how it feels. If that doesn't work I am going to say its the limited vacuum of my cam and I am going to go with an electric vacuum pump