I had a local 914 specialist go over my car after I bought it. Among the things he did was replace all of the rubber brake lines, which were getting weepy. So the system was bled recently.

I expect unassisted brakes to require a lot of effort, and these do. But the pedal never totally firms up. Even when I'm exerting enough force to lock up a wheel, there is still travel. It feels like a spring that can keep stretching.

At some point, the pedal should get hard. Maybe not rock hard, but more like squishing a rubber puck than stretching a spring.

No?

I also found a little brake fluid on the floor of my garage. But there does not appear to be any leaking around the cover that hides the master cylinder, steering rack, etc. Maybe its from the reservoir drain? The reservoir is full.

Thanks for your thoughts!

Have it checked asap. You don't want brake oil under your car; safety wise and it's h*ll for your car's paint. Put pressure on the system and watch what happens. Ask the guy if he has used silicone fluid. That tends to hold microscopical air bubbles when the (unopened) is shaken or when it's poured in too quickly. In that case, the only remedy is to keep the cap off and leave the car standing for a week. The small air pockets will workt their way upwards. Then, bleed the brakes.

My pedal builds resistance as it travels and gets firm perhaps a third of the way down - mine will lock up with the pedal firm, i.e. no more travel.

Agree you need to figure out where the fluid is coming from. If it weren't for fluid on the garage floor, I'd bleed the brakes, and then suspect the master cylinder if it continued.

Master cylinder.

There is some flex in the floorboard, though.
And it's prominent enough that someone designed a brace for the master cylinder that keeps it from moving.

You might still have air in the system too.

All of the above. The floor pan can flex, you may still have air in the system, the master cylinder may have problems. (Did you use a "URO" brand one?)

--DD

Takes a long time and repeated sessions to fully bleed a 914.

I just jacked up the car and looked closely at the area around the master cylinder and can't find any weeping.

I didn't have the cylinder changed--just the rubber lines, Dave.

Time to tap on some calipers...

The metal around the pedals might also be suspect

Very nice photo sequence, Mark. My brake pedal has some somewhat unusual feel, it's relatively firm for most of the travel, then has a little bit of additional just when you'd think it would lock up the brakes. But it doesn't. I did just recently find that my right rear caliper is weeping fluid but I'm not sure if that's got anything to do with it since there had not been any prior fluid loss in the reservoir.

I have a pair of replacement rear calipers to install, courtesy of another member But between the fact that it's snowing (again) and I'm a slacker, I haven't installed them yet. At this rate, I'd be surprised if all the salt was off the road by the time Hershey rolls around...

I also have a rebuilt pedal set from bdstone in my sights. I'm pretty sure the new set has bronze bushings instead of old warn plastic bushings. Every little bit helps.

I had already purchased porterfield pads from PMB for my 1.7 car. That was a noticible upgrade.