How do you adjust brake fly height?, Or do I have a sticky caliper? Options

[purple]

Hey Guys,

I'm torqueing my CV bolts the other day and notice that when i turn my rear wheels, my left wheel makes a 'dragging' noise. like the brake pads are touching the rotor. Is there some adjustment i can do to just that one, or do i have to have the calipers rebuilt?

My right front makes a similar noise, but not nearly as much. the other two are silent.

[Joe Ricard]

Yes your factory manual will illustrate the procedures for setting the air gap on the rear calipers.

[Eric_Shea]

You need to adjust your rear parking brake gap. Before you go too far turn your wheel again and make sure it's consistent and you don't have a runout issue (may be new rotor time if it's too drastic).

Here's a start:

1. Yank the pins and pads and clean everything up. I saw a member here put his pins in his drill and clean them up with a Scotch-Brite pad. Good idea. Get a wire brush in the pad cavity and clean it out. Clean the pads as well. Wire brush the sides etc. Make sure everything is working smoothly. While you're in there and the pads are out, take a look at the dust boots over the pistons and make sure there are no rips and tears.

Put the pads and pins back in.

2. Access your adjusters. The outer adjusters may have caps on them. Take them off with a 13mm. The inner adjusters have a plug sealing their cavity. This plug will almost always be problematic. The 4mm hex does not have enough surface area to engage and overcome the (rusty) thread surface of the cap. A cold chisel and a hammer will "pop" that cap and get it rotating. Do this "before" you strip the 4mm then you can remove the rest of the way with the 4mm hex.

3. Remove the cable attachments from the caliper arm. Try to salvage the clips and save them for reuse.

4. Let the adjusting begin. Start with the outer adjuster. IMPORTANT - first loosen the 13mm lock nut. Now you can adjust with the 4mm. Go both ways and make certain the piston is now operating freely on the adjuster shaft. You will want to adjust to .004" (not .008 as the manuals say) on the high side of your runout. As follows: Clockwise will open the gap. Counterclockwise will close the gap. Again, set it at .004"

Your inner adjusters are gear driven. Make sure that gear is in the adjuster cavity. With a 4mm hex on a long extension go through the hole in the arm and into your adjuster cavity. Remember, these are gear driven so all of the actions above are in reverse for the inner adjuster: Clockwise will close the gap. Counterclockwise will open the gap. Again, set it at .004" on the high side of the runout.

5. Button everything back up. If you salvaged the inner adjuster covers coat them with anti-seize and order some new ones. I use the 5mm covers with the deep well for the hex... WAY better than the unobtainable stock ones.

Good luck.

P.S. Up front you probably have a sticky caliper. That would be a good indication of the condition of the rears as well.

[purple]

I have no parking brake.
There are no cables at all going back there.

the pin that would rotate to do that stuff is stuck on the left side, it's movable on the right side.

I'll have to pull out the haynes to understand the rest of what you said, as I have no clue where any of the stuff you mentioned is (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

I once had a friend that said the definition of a gearhead is someone who only thinks of how to go fast and totally forgets how to stop..

yeah, i've been working on the engine for 7 months and only now care that my brakes make a funny dragging noise (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

[type47]

I have no parking brake.
There are no cables at all going back there.

do you have a 5 lug conversion?

[purple]

I have no parking brake.
There are no cables at all going back there.

do you have a 5 lug conversion?

no, 4 lug. the p.o. took all that stuff off. the little arm thingies are there that actuate the parking brake, the cables and the other stuff for making it work arent there though.

[Eric_Shea]

Cables are "fairly" inexpensive (I think) at around $33-35 each. To me that even makes it work while getting new ones vs. trying to get old ones working. If your's are missing, $60-70 clams might get you back at it.

Regardless, set the venting clearance so your rear calipers will work properly. You will get better brake performance.

[purple]

Oh, i just wanted the pads to not drag. i have no intention of actually hooking up the e-brake. whatcha need an ebrake on a race car for?

[yeahmag]

Beats a wall for a breaking aide in a catastrophic hydraulic event... Just me tho.

-Aaron

[purple]

you can use the tranny...

[Dr. Roger]

i was thinking about the other drivers.... tranny won't help you there.

[Cap'n Krusty]

You need to adjust your rear parking brake gap. Before you go too far turn your wheel again and make sure it's consistent and you don't have a runout issue (may be new rotor time if it's too drastic).

........................................ snip ....................................


P.S. Up front you probably have a sticky caliper. That would be a good indication of the condition of the rears as well.

Or maybe not. Good writeup, but you neglected to mention the likelihood of bad brake hoses. If they're original, they're probably ready to be changed. Something else I've found to be important is the boots being intact but not properly attached to the piston. If the rubber gets between the piston and the pad, you'll get not only drag, but a mushy pedal.

Last, but not least, the original poster says (after the post to which I'm responding) that he has no hand brake. It doesn't matter, the venting clearance still has to be set. Furthermore, an emergency brake is required in every jurisdiction in the US, as far as I know, and it's less than smart to operate a motor vehicle on the street without one. The Cap'n

[Eric_Shea]

Oh, i just wanted the pads to not drag. i have no intention of actually hooking up the e-brake. whatcha need an ebrake on a race car for?

Regardless, set the venting clearance so your rear calipers will work properly. You will get better brake performance.

I'm done. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[purple]

It was the p.o. that did the brake work. i've been going through this car and un f***ing it. The brakes are the next project. I would like a handbrake and it would be a nice thing after several instances where having one would be nice. I've been slowly adding features to this car that were p.o. removed.

I will do the fly height when I can. I will likely send them to you eric for a rebuild. the pin that the parking brake stuff controls is stuck solid on the left side. This is also the rotor that's dragging.

Thanks for your advice eric. I will do what I can but if it needs a rebuild, you'll be hearing from me

[Joe Ricard]

Any idiot that pulls the E-brake to get the car to stop in the event that the hyd. system quits better have two hands on the wheel and be ready for some serious counter steer so you can keep the back end from passing the front end.

However a 914 E-brake/ parking brake is marginally effective at doing anything resembling stopping the car.

[purple]

Any idiot that pulls the E-brake to get the car to stop in the event that the hyd. system quits better have two hands on the wheel and be ready for some serious counter steer so you can keep the back end from passing the front end.

However a 914 E-brake/ parking brake is marginally effective at doing anything resembling stopping the car.

thanks joe, i knew you were in my corner (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[Dr. Roger]

I'll take factory supplied marginal E-braking over non-existent E-braking any day.

There is also an outside chance that it's not the brakes but the bearings beginning to give up. They make their own unique sound and can be (wiggled) checked while the cars up in the air.