C2 Brakes - Soft Peddle?

[Ralph E.]

This past winter I replaced my front disc brake pads on my 67 Corvette. Today I started the car for the first time after its long winter nap. I then did a system check of everything I had replaced and reconnected. Everything checked out OK except my brakes. The brake peddle is not firm. It seems to travel too far when I put pressure on it and it seems soft.
What have I done or what should I do. I have change the pads on a lot of cars bit this never happened before.
Help is appreciated.

Ralph #37280

[Joe L.]

Re: C2 Brakes - Soft Peddle?

Ralph-----

You've got air in the lines, plain and simple. It may not be so "plain and simple" to get it all out, though. Getting air into the system is the easy part; getting it OUT on a 65-82 Corvette is the hard part.

[Loren L.]

Either air in the lines as J stated, or the

master cylinder itself has started to go away, with fluid slipping by the cylinder inside.

[Ralph E.]

Bleeding Brake System??

The MC is only two years old. I'll try bleeding the system. An suggestion on how to do it.

[Gary S.]

Re: Bleeding Brake System??

Your GM Chassis Service Manual will tell you the bleed sequence for your car, but the archives will also tell you that you can expect some difficulty getting a firm pedal. As Joe L. alluded to these systems just seem harder to bleed than other cars. Remember that the rear calipers should have two bleeders. Others on this board like gravity bleeding. Either I don't have the patience for this or I am doing something wrong, but I prefer the two person, pump-hold-bleed method.
Gary

[John H.]

Re: Bleeding Brake System??

I finally bought a power bleeder ( www.motiveproducts.com ), and it has literally eliminated all the grief of bleeding C2 brakes. No more "gravity", no more MityVacs, no more team pedal-pumping, and NO MORE AIR! Best money I've spent in years - should have bought one years ago.

[joe utz]

Re: Bleeding Brake System??

John,
Which Bleeded did you buy?
Joe

[Ralph E.]

Re: Bleeding Brake System??

John,
Which Power Bleeder do you suggest? The Early American Power Bleeder?
Ralph

[John H.]

Re: Bleeding Brake System??

Yup, the "Early American" model with the rectangular adapter; really does the job.

[Ralph E.]

Re: Speed Bleeders??

John,
Just curious!
Have you ever tried a speed bleeder.

https://www.speedbleeder.com

Ralph

[John H.]

Re: Speed Bleeders??

Yup, I put them on my Grand Sport when they first came out back in '96 or '97; they worked fine with the pumping routine. The Motive Products pressure bleeder works with 10-15 psi, and I don't know if that's enough pressure to unseat the check balls in the Speed Bleeders or not.

[David H.]

Speed Bleeders Open on Vacuum of 10 psi

I put a Speed Bleeder on a hand vacuum tester, it opened at 10 psi (negative).