I have 9" manual drums on my '71 Swinger. Now being born in the eighties I am accustomed to power brakes and their sensitivity. I understand manuals take a bit more leg power to stop, but I think something is wrong with mine. The brake pedal is all the way to the floor and it takes quite a bit of distance and pressure to get the ole' A body from flying through the intersection. I've actually had two instances where after I've just started the car the brakes did not engage at all, luckily I was going slow (apologies to the tranny). I don't hear any squealing or scraping sounds. My brake system knowledge is in its infancy an am just wondering what type of problem this may be: Air bubbles, fixed by a bleeding? Master cylinder? Complete brake job? Thanks.

Brendan

Try adjusting your brakes.

Get a service manual and read it before you start.

You will need to jack each wheel in turn to adjust the brakes.

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

Could be brake adjustment (though the self-adjustor design they introduced in '69 is less failure-prone than the design used through '68). Could also be a fault with the master cylinder. If I understand you correctly and sometimes the pedal goes to the floor with zero or near-zero braking effect, but sometimes it works better than that, then you probably have a master cylinder problem. You need to stop driving the car immediately until you find and fix the problem -- it is not roadworthy in its current condition.

Recommend you buy the three books described in this thread as a very important first step.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Pedal down or pumping them has nothing to do with adjustment.

Either your fluid is low, you have air in the system, or a weak or leaking master cylinder or wheel cylinders.

It certainly can. When the adjustment is very slack, the first pump pushes the wheel cylinder pistons outward, and the second pump pushes them outward further, at which point the brake shoes contact the drums. Between pumps the residual pressure valve prevents the fluid immediately gushing back into the master cylinder, which in turn prevents the shoe springs immediately forcing the wheel cylinders back to their retracted state.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Auto adjusters pull the slack up. Mushy pedal like discribed isnt adjuster driven

Auto adjusters do not always work and WILL cause a mushy pedal, this is of course part of a normal brake insection and the actual cause will be located if done correctly!

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Even in moderation i am excessive!

Eric, again, welcome tot he board; it's usually good to have new voices here. Please be sure to take a little time to read the threads you're responding to before posting, to avoid repeating incorrect info that's already been corrected. New information is what keeps threads alive and pertinent, but does-not/does-too gainsaying, without supporting evidence, doesn't get anyone anywhere.

Thanks!

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Any time you have brake problems that could be caused by more than one thing the whole system needs to be checked.

Start by looking at the master for leaks out the back, then the wheels need to be pulled of for an inspection of the wheel cylinders, linings, drums and adjustment. It should be obvious what is wrong and if anything is in question a complete brake job on that axle is needed.

This is nothing to play with, it needs to be right.

I was pretty low on brake fluid (a recent development) I added about 1/3 of a bottle and there was no difference the first day. The next day after a bit of testing the brakes began to catch. I discussed with a mechanic co-worker of mine and he suggested that this may have been due to air in the system being bled through a pin hole leak.

With a little bit of air in the system (due to the level dropping from a slow leak (bad) or just the normal fluid level dropping because of the self-adjustment feature of the brakes (normal)) topping off the fluid can actually fix the problem....

That's assuming the little bit of air was only in the master cylinder, as the air will make it out of the master cylinder thru the bypass port once the level has been topped off.

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes