Hi Guys,

I have very recently had issues with my brakes. They seem very spongy and would go almost all the way to the floor, and when I checked the fluid, the front reservoir was down to almost nothing (I have a tandem cylinder that is not original for my 1960 Belvedere). I topped up the fluid and there is a slight improvement, and therre has been no fluid loss so far. I put it down to air in the master cylinder, and that it requires bleeding.

However, I have noticed that if I pump the pedal numerous times, then use the brakes normally, I get full braking force without the exessive pedal travel. This doesn't last long, however, usually only a stop or two.

I can understand that with the front resevoir low that air could be sucked in causing the spongyness, but the "seems ok after pumping a few times" symptom seems like a seperate problem (shot piston/cylinder perhaps?). Is this likely?
Obviously it isn't a fortune to bleed the master cylinder so I shall be doing that anyway. I am just concerned that the problem is more severe than a simple bleed would cure.

As always, any advice you guys could offer would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot,
60Ply

Sounds like your master cylinder may be packing in. If you had leaky wheel cylinders, you'd get grabby and otherwise unpredictable behaviour from the brakes. Is the car still running the factory 4-wheel drums? You may want to have a look at this thread for info on a not-very-costly disc conversion.

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Hi Dan,

Yup, she has drums all round (not sure if they are stock or not). When the brakes are working, they are fine. She'll pull up well and I have never had any fade problems. Obviously, a car like that needs to be driven with a bit more forethought than a modern machine anyway, but the setup has been perfectly acceptable, including times when an emergency stop has been necessary.

The current master cylinder is a tandem job. Infact it was you that told me. Would it be better to buy a rebuilt master cylinder, a rebuild kit or anything else? Can they be had new?
I would like to get essentially the same tandem set up, since I am happy with the performance it delivers, but I am not sure about what year, model etc it is, or when it was used. My brakes are drums all round, with no power assist. The master has a much larger rear resevoir, presumably this is a disk/drum master?

As always, any help provided is greatly appreciated.
Thanks alot,
60Ply