hello my name is jamie im 25 years old and hail from westminster md(yes im a guy).im married with 3 smal children and work in custom home framing. more importantly im a gm fanatic cars ive owned 85 trans am,85 monte ss, 86,88,89 firebird, 81 t-top z28 the 81 was completly built by me from a $200 body after a year i was busy with work took it to a local mechanic to have the starter to batt cable replaced i made it 2 miles down the road an it burnt to the ground with nothing salvagable he ran it between the header do the math. vehicles i currently have are a 84 k10 swb 4x4, and a 1979 t-top z28.


car/project info and background

1979 z28 bought for $400.00 as a body and frame with no wiring interior glass. replaced quarters,door skins,rocker,fenders,front bumper,floors,rear tail pan. installed all new interior and wiring. istalled a chevy 350 bored 30 over with 1.6 rollers,perf rpm cam and intake.performance distributor,headers and topped with a holley 650 carb. it is matted to a 350 turbo and 3.42 gears. i also replaced the bushings etc... you get the picture i also replaced all the brake parts an thats where my question starts.
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problem

all new brake components. but i cant get any pedal heres alist of what ive done

1-bled master cylinder on car by using hose goin from bleeder screw on side mc to container of fluid and pumped the brake till there was nomore air

2- blew all the lines out with compressed air before istalling to insure there was no blockages

3- allowed brakes to gravity bleed for 3 days untill fluid flowed from each valve

4- i hooked a hose to the slightly opened brake bleeders to a bottle of fresh clean brake fluid got in car and pumped brakes 7 times with a 1x4 below the brake pedal to insure it didnt travel to far i did this 3 differant times making sure to fill the resorvoir without emptying it i repeated this on each wheel starting with pass rear,driver rear,pass front,driver front. still had no peddle once the car was starter (although was very stiff when not running) so i repeated the entire process of bleeding the lines 3 times still no peddle when car was running but still stiff engine off.

notes

... when bleeding the rear brakes notices it was diffacult to push brake peddle down while the valve was open an a hose from the valve to a bottle fluid

... im using dot 3

... i havnt adjust the rear brakes

... front brakes bleed fine

... there are no leaks im positive on that

so there it is any help would be apprieciated im lost an need this done to send it to be painted. and shes done.

just to short hand the over all problem i have very good stiff peddle when engine is off and almost and might aswell be nothing when the engine is started. what am i missing please help im desparite

 

Can you plump it up if you pump the brake fast? Set your park brake. Then try it. Give it a couple of pump and see if it get better. Have you replaced all the metal lines? Master cylinder is the only part of your brakes that can "Leak" and not drop brake fluid on the floor. You would not be the first person to get a defective master cyclinder.

 

yes if i pump i still have almost no peddle would it matter that i havnt adjust the rear drums yet

 

Yes, it can mean a lot. Check the back brakes, and make sure they are adjusted correctly to where they start to drag. If the brakes are worn, and the adjuster is stuck from age and hasn't been self-adjusting the shoes out as they wore down (not uncommon), then the rear brakes will have way too much travel, equating to too much pedal travel as well. Popping the drums off and inspecting the adjusters would be a good idea.

 

thanx for the help i got em working it turns out i just didnt bleed em right i used a vacuum pump an they are good to go