Replacing my Brakes Options

[purple]

This weekend was step one of two of replacing the brakes on my '76. The previous owner upon selling to me told me that he had rebuilt the front calipers and the brake fluid looked very nice and fresh in the master cylinder. Looks like a nice fresh tank of ATE super blue..... I will find out later that what's in that tank doesnt look like what's in the brake lines....

I started this project because when turning the wheels in the rear to set timing, I can hear the left rear brake dragging, and loudly. I feared it was a bearing, but it wasnt. The brake was dragging. I lift the car and put it on 4 jackstands, the evil kind (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) I need some proper pin-thru stands. I have all 4 tires under the car in case the car decides it wants to smoosh me.

I'm using 4 new rebuilt calipers from Eric Shea. With these calipers are 4 new rotors, new front bearings, new seals, 4 new softlines, all new pads. A total of $1038 in parts from Eric.

From the pic...the parts are gorgeous!

[Spoke]

You wrote:
"if you dont set it very well, does that make the brake pedal feel miles long?"

Yep. In reality, brake pad/pistons move very little when you press the brake pedal. If the venting clearance is big, even maybe less than 1/8 inch on each pad, the entire pedal depression may not bring the pads to the rotors and no stopping power.

Not sure about the pad separators on or off as you mention, I adjust the venting clearance with the brake caliper/pad fully assembled. Using the adjusters on either side of the caliper, I turn them so the piston pushes in until the pad drags on the rotor, then back off slightly. I'll wiggle the pad to tell when it bottoms out on the rotor.

I put the wheel back on and rotate the tire to see if the rotor drags at any point. You may not notice a wobbly rotor until the wheel is torqued on.

If you adjust to a big venting clearance, you'll notice the pedal going down more. Smaller clearance means less pedal depression. I'll drive the car a bit, stop and touch the centers of the rear rotors to make sure neither is dragging. They should be just a bit warm, not hot. Don't touch the actual rotor part or you may burn you fingers.

Once you get the venting clearance adjusted, your car will stop on a dime. If Eric's calipers are anything like his 5 lug rear hubs, you will be very happy.