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 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!

After some more investigation, it turns out that not just 1 caliper was dragging. ALL FOUR were dragging. No wonder this car feels so sluggish and tends to overheat. Besides the fact that my timing may be off and my tune may not be so great, I have a left rear caliper dragging like crazy, a front right dragging a little, left front with what sounds like shitty bearings, and a right rear that sounds quieter than the rest. Sounds like doing all 4 at the same time was a good idea!

All it takes to take off the rear calipers is a 19mm box wrench and a rubber mallet. An 11 mm wrench is what you need for the brake line itself.

My car did not come with a parking brake and the left mechanism was jammed anyway, more on that soon....

It's much easier to take off the caliper if you unclip the hardline from the trailing arm. this means you dont have to detach the hardline from the caliper right away and have a bit of wiggle room. I did this and put the 19mm on the bolts and gave them a few whacks with the rubber mallet. Surprisingly, these bolts dont seem rediculously tight like most of the bolts on this car tend to be! It was pretty easy!

First, I took off the left rear caliper.... Or should I say, I loosened the bolts on the caliper and that sucker DIDNT MOVE! It was clamped onto the rotor so hard, i needed to bang it off with the rubber mallet! It was like having a parking brake on ALL THE TIME. How I didn't go spinning out of control constantly is beyond me.

I removed the hardline from the caliper and the brake fluid that came out was red and kinda awful looking...

Here is the pic of the left rear caliper... not much room is there? No wonder the car smelled like hot brakes all the time!

The right rear caliper came off pretty easily and wasnt a big deal compared to the left rear. It didnt need any coaxing to get off the rotor, so I guess it was somewhat okay. It was still touching the rotor though...

On to the fronts!

I shot the rotor screws with PB blaster as well as the inner adjuster covers on the rear.... more on that later..

I moved to the front left caliper.

It was also pretty easy to get loose. you guys have to remember there is a locking tab that you have to bend back off of both front bolts before any loosing can be done. I turned my wheel full-left to more easily work on the caliper bolts, as they can be a pain to see.

I loosed the bolts and then undid the hardline... This caliper came off without coaxing and something that was wierd....I didnt have any fluid leak out of the hard line at all. I put some saran wrap over the MC and screwed the cover down over it as per the haynes manual. The only line to leak after this is still the left rear. I leaked around 30 cc's of fluid, starting red and gukky, ending up blue...

Here's the left front caliper. it was dragging slightly, but the bearing needs attention here on this one...

What's with the seals on the piston? is that right?

The last caliper to remove for the day is the right front. This is actually the one dragging the second loudest.

Behold my amazement when I see this....

Looks like a herniated disc from Joe Sharps XRays.....

How does this happen? These seals look completely melted! What's going on here?


I want to end this section with how I removed the softlines.

You need an 11mm open wrench and a 17mmcombination wrench and 17mmdeep socket, more on the deep socket in a minute.

The front soft lines are easy to get off because there are two clips, one holding either end of the line. Make sure you have the 17mm on the soft line and the 11mm on the hard line and lefty loosy those suckers apart. I think you will break the hard lines if you dont support both sides of the joint. The soft lines can be on there pretty good! My soft lines were original to the car by the small metal collar on them saying 05/75. Making these lines 33 years old in service!

The rear softlines are a BITCH to get off. Eric Shea gave me a great tip on how to get them off: you need to cut the line very close to where they go up into the body. Then you put the 11mm wrench on the hardline up there, and put the 17mm deep socket on the softline fitting and then CAREFULLY wrench away. I had to use needle nose pliers to get the clips off of the softline fitting to drop it off the mount there. You have to work it back and forth and it'll come off...eventually. I bent the mounting tabs down slightly to seperate the softlines from the hardline joints. I suggest cleaning the hard line flares thoroughly before re-attaching the new soft lines.

The rear brake rotors came off really easily after the PB blaster was used on the flat-head screws that keep them on. The inner adjusters came off really easily after PB Blaster. I didnt have to do anything other than use a 4mm allen key, easy.

The left caliper had brake fluid inside the parking brake mechanism, I think this means the thing is shot. I'm not sure though.


I will end by saying that my brakes didnt feel spongy per-se. They were pretty much non-existant until you pushed nice and hard on the pedal. I think the brakes are in horrible shape and am really glad that I got a whole new set. I hope the car will be less sluggish and will not overheat in the future. I'm also looking forward to some improved stopping.

Does anyone have any recommendations for some brake fluid for me? I have super blue in there, I'd like a gold or orange colored fluid so that when I flush the system I know when I'm good and flushed.

I'm awaiting some parts that USPS lost in shipping before I can finish the job and put these pretty new brakes back on. I'll post the completion in here! Hope you enjoyed!

ATE makes a blue and gold colored fluid. I alternate them on flushes....

Oh good! Do I need DOT4 or DOT5?

ATE is DOT 4, I would avoid DOT 5 like the plague. DOT 5.1 is OK

why is dot5 bad?

Good write-up.

Fluid inside the handbrake mechanism means the inner adjuster seal is shot.

Are you sure those are the dust covers we're seeing? It may be anti-squeal compound on the back of the pads. If it is the seals, this is what can happen when you have a pad dragging. They get "extremely" hot.

In your first picture of the rear caliper, you can see uneven pad wear and a piston that is out further than the other. This is indicative of stuck pistons or severly skewed adjustment. Looks like your inner piston is stuck and not working.

It's spring time gang. Everyone should take off all 4 and do a once over on your brakes. This is a perfect time to change your fluid and check your pads. If you don't know the last time your rubber lines were replaced... now would be a good time to consider it.

I've said this before; "I've seen hundreds of calipers from the inside. You can tell which ones have been maintained properly and which ones haven't. Take care of your brakes and they'll take care of you."

This also helps point out the issues with 914 brakes. Many times it's the fairly large nut behind the wheel that causes the problem. Patrick is doing the right thing for sure. Stock 914 brakes in proper order are amazing.

I'm hoping for some amazing stopping power! My MINI puts the 914 to shame for sure!

Hell, I have to leave a HUGE following distance to the car in front of me. The lowliest of trasheaps can out-stop me. I almost rear-ended a woman because she decided to stop RIGHT in front of me. something that the MINI could easily handle. I had to swerve and panic break and lock up the tires to not hit her. that was a BIG wakeup call.

The autopsy above and Erics comments are a good reminder to all I think. Brakes are very important. Most cars have over 1000 brakes horsepower. This car likely had 300 at best. The brakes were scary bad on this car. I've driven 914's with worse, but they didnt belong to me

Eric, the fronts look for sure like the seals have flipped inside out. It's really scary to see that stuff on my car. It's no wonder only my left front would lock up the tire. that's some hairy times when I slam on the breaks

Silly-cone.

Because our systems were designed for glycol based fluids I tend to like high performaing DOT4 or... DOT5.1 (which should be the glycol equivelant of a DOT5)

DOT5's or silicone fluids can aerate fairly easily and they really don't have many true advantages over good glycols. We're also not sure what long term affect DOT5 will have on the current brake system with it's seals from 1970 etc. DOT4's and 5's don't always play well together. Mix the two and you'll get an interesting sludge.

I'd bet this was the initial problem with the brakes which then necessitated a rebuild by the PO. The pads still look fairly new. I'd be willing to bet he rebuilt them and still had the same problem (old, swollen lines holding pressure on the calipers and locking up the system). It may even be why he sold the car...

Would that explain why no fluid leaked out of the system? I can't have sealed it up with some measly saran wrap that well, could I?

Pretty much. Your lines were basically swollen shut. The pressure exerted by the MC forced the liquid through and to the calipers but then it stayed and locked up the brakes etc.

No wonder the holes in the brake lines looked so tiny! When I cut them at the body they looked rediculously small inside.

I found a website that detailed the bleeding procedure...looks like I'll be heading over to sears to pick up an Actron vacuum pump and bleeder kit. I dont have an assistant to pump the brakes for me, so I'll be using a vacuum bleed system.

I've gotten a tip to wrap the bleeder threads in teflon so that no air gets by the threads back into the system when you're doing this as well.

I can't wait to get down to the garage this weekend! I ordered all 8 caps for the bleeders as my car only has the front 4 on and they look pretty much done.

I'll be using DOT4 fluid I find at autozone or o'reilly. I'm going to put some 140wt gear oil in my tranny while it's up there and replace the seal in the shifter console. I need to also replace the reverse switch because the plastic section of mine is GONE.

Also, going to put the little rubber boot on my clutch cable and put the left-side air deflector back on the car (the one in front of the engine)

I also have a WORKING thermostat with bracket i just got off of ebay that i'll be hooking up, also while i'm under there. This is gonna be a kick ass project. prolly gonna be on jackstands a while.... it's natural habitat

I love seeing highly motivated individuals work on their cars...

Damn... story sounds vaguely familiar. I also spent about a grand on brakes when I got my car.

C:>

that's the first time i've been described as highly motivated!

normally the teachers said..."he's very bright, but needs to apply himself better"

Nice, thanks for the compliment

Some progress and some questions:

I put the front brake lines back on and banged the new races into the new rotors, no problems there. I also put the rear hats on and was getting ready to mount the calipers when I noticed something...

My rear calipers have no gears! At least that's what I think is going on. When you take the inner adjuster covers off, there are supposed to be little gears that drop out, right? nothing of the sort came out, and nothing that looks adjustable is down that hole. The old calipers look just like the new calipers, meaning the new calipers dont have gears, and niether do the old ones!

Can you guys post pics of what these 'gears' look like please?

Thanks!

That be why we don't include them...

Too many cores come w/o gears and the gears are expensive. You're supposed to take the gears out of your cores and use them.

We need to get some gears coming your way.

Been a while since I updated the thread...

Eric Shea has been a huge help in getting parts to me that either I didnt have or the PO took off the car ; like the rear caliper gears

When I took all the old calipers off, I had put saran wrap over the MC and tightened the cap.

Apparently when you leave the calipers off the car for that long....things leak out.

Yeah, I came back to the car after finally getting everything I need and find the master cylinder bone dry. Now I know i'm screwed

After that, i find the bleeder/vacuum pump I bought at sears had a cracked reservoir and wouldnt hold vacuum. I replaced that and then got to bleeding.

A buddy recommended I wrap the bleeders threads in teflon so that they dont leak when I loosen them for bleeding. This actually didnt work, I got all kinds of air bubbles from around the bleeder nipple. I used grease to stop the air flowing by and it worked great!

I 'bled' the system and then push the brakes and the pedal feels like the gas pedal this is bad...

How do I bleed the system if the whole thing drained out? I have a 76, so do I use the top or the bottom bleeder on the calipers? I've never done this before, so any tips you guys have would be greatly appreciated!

How do you get all the air out of the system? Oh yeah, what size wrench do you need for the bleeders? it's a real bitch to try to tighten and loosen those with needle nose pliers!

1.) Crack the connections at the MC and let them drip to fill it.

2.) Crack the connections at the Prop Valve to get the air out.

3.) Bleeders are 7mm.

First off... it takes a "ton" of fluid and time and effort to get the system to bleed, especially if your MC went dry. Sometimes the main effort can be getting the MC fully loaded. Use Ron's drip method.

I don't recommend the vaccuum method. I like the buddy system on a 914.

Here's what a Proportioning valve looks like opened up:

Click to view attachment

Notice all the little places the air can get trapped. There's the large body and spring. The valve body has numerous holes in it to trap the air. Without getting into how this little bugger works, you can see there are plenty of places for air bubbles to attach themselves.

You can tap this with a plastic mallet or a wooden hammer handle etc. I like to crack the right rear bleeder and stomp on the pedal. This and the tapping will free up a lot of air trapped in the valve. Then crack the left rear and do it again.

Once you get a decent pedal I like to take it for a spin. A few bumpy roads and a few panic stops in a deserted parking lot and come back and re-bleed.

Click to view attachment

I've used plenty of pressure bleeders and vacuum bleeders and it almost always comes down to what Eric said- get a buddy to help you bleed them the old fashioned way. Often as he said it requires a drive down a bumpy road and a second bleed as well.

thanks guys! Looks like the fiance will be coming to the garage with me

I hate this car.

I want it out of my life. It drives like shit, and most importantly...doesnt stop.

I opened the MC fittings, they dripped right away, closed them back up. Opened the prop valve fittings up, they dripped right away, let them drip for a while, closed them back up.



I bled the brakes with the fiance like so:

I made sure the reservoir was full, I went to the right rear brake, had a tube over the bleeder down into the bucket of flushed brake fluid. opened the valve with the 7mm wrench while saying push! she's push the pedal and i would close the valve before she'd let the pedal back up. i had her stomp a few times and this worked nicely for getting lots of bubbles out. i didnt leave a corner until the bubbles stopped. always closing right after the pedal was to the floor.

I worked my way closer to the MC so the next one was the left rear, then the right front, then the left front. the right front had a ton of bubbles, so it took a while. I then went around all 4 corners again, no more bubbles at all.

i then try the pedal...it's worthless. it goes to the floor, no hard pedal.

i try to drive the car, and it runs like shit, for whatever reasons. I made that worse of course, i went from a weber progressive and 009 to a mallory unilite and dual weber 40's and it runs WORSE, but i digress.

Now I have 1000 dollars in brakes on this heap of shit and i can barely stop the stupid thing rolling backwards out of the garage. i drive it 100 feet and it just wont slow down unless the pedal is on the floor. i remember this car used to have a pretty hard pedal, this is rediculous. i drive it right back into the garage and am thankful i have a manual transmission car or it would have never stopped at all.

I seem to have the shit finger with this car. everything I touch...turns to shit. I change the carbs, i get backfires through them and small fires. I change the ignition and the thing still overheats. i clean the gas tank and now it leaks, i change the brakes and now it doesnt stop. I ask myself...why do I bother?

WTF can I do? is there anyone in houston who knows what they are doing when it comes to this car, not just the brakes, the whole car. I just cant seem to do ANY work right.

Hang tight... you're doing all the right things here. Just take them one at a time and work you way through these tough times.

Regarding the brakes: A LOT of times when a brake system is down the master cylinder decides to take a dump. I'm not at all sure why but, for some reason they go out often when they are left dry. Check around your pedal cluster and see if you have any brake fluid in the pedal cluster box. You might need a new MC.

Next, did you set your venting clearance to .004" yet?

Dual carbs can be finicky...there are some fairly standard procedures when setting carbs but, we'll probably need to know more than "it runs WORSE". Also, we'd need to know what it is you have done since putting the carbs on.

Breath and hang tight... there's a lot of people here who can help you get it sorted out.

If set too wide, the entire pedal push would be spent bringing the pads closer to the rotors and not stopping the car. You are close, don't give up now.

If your GF's pedal push expels fluid, the MC should be working.

These cars will test every ounce of your patience and skill. Tackle one problem at a time and don't look back.

For me, the fun of driving a 70's era sports car and the oogles I get from folks when they see a car so unique as the 914 makes all the pain worth while.

You could be like your buddies and get a modern ricer car, chip it, put some wheels on it, a fart can, a couple of subs, and be like everyone else. Or be trailblazer and change brakes, suspension pieces, mod the engine, and bring a classic sports car back to life.

Hang tight. These guys here will get you through it all.

Spoke

I'm really not sure what is happening with your brake issue.

You need to go back and bleed your brakes some more. Do as they suggest and check to make sure your venting clearance is set for your rear calipers.

When sitting in your garage, ready to bleed the brakes, can you get any firmness out of your brake pedal?

On my street car that I had apart a couple years ago, I went through 2 quarts of brake fluid before I started getting a decent pedal. I had all 4 calipers off and the system went dry. I just simply could not get all the air out. I think in my case, I had air trapped inside both the master cylinder AND my proportioning valve.

When bleeding brakes with the buddy system, have your buddy pump the brake pedal slowly but firmly and hold pressure on the pedal. While they are holding pressure, open the bleeder (on top) and then close the bleeder prior to the pedal being released.

The pedal should have some firmness while holding pressure after pumping the pedal.

I prefer pressure bleeding mine, but when the master cylinder has run dry, I will use the pressure bleeder and crack open one bleeder at a time and slowly depress the brake pedal and release it while still pressure bleeding. That helps force any trapped air out of the master cylinder.

Make sure you have a firm brake pedal prior to driving your car again. There is a reason your pedal goes to the floor. It won't get better by itself.

I am confident that the solution can be found.

As to your carbs, that is another topic.

just my $0.02

the gf and i did exactly this. I mean EXACTLY.

I read and read and read about how to do this. She pushed the pedal and i would crack the valve, it would expel fluid nicely, i would close it and she'd let off the pedal. we went through a whole quart that way. it took a while to get the bubbles to stop and i had her stomp quite a few times to jar air out of the prop valve, which worked nicely.

the venting clearance.... I must not have the right tool or something because the brake pads are at quite an angle and do not push straight at the rotor. i have the tippy point of the pads set to .004 I saw this wierd gynecological tool in the haynes manual they use for that, and I think they want you to remove the pins and stuff that hold the pads on for that or something. It just seems to me that the pads would drag all over the place if you adjusted them without the spring thingies on them and then put them back on, that's kinda what i wanted to avoid. or are brakes supposed to drag? i dont get it.

oh, wouldnt it just figure this piece of shit needs a new MC too... just great. I'll have bought a whole new f*ing car in parts. i hate old cars. I can handle chipping a new car and ricing the hell out of it, and you know why? because i'll actually get to DRIVE a car instead of just OWNING one.

nobody oogles this car, it's old, it's ugly, and of questionable design. i've had ONE oogle and it was a guy in a 993 cabriolet. maybe it was a pity wave

Couple this with my worthless computer,my parents jacking with their internet connection and calling me every 5 minutes for tech support, and i'm feeling like i just want the world to GO AWAY!

I should have figured this would happen. EVERY time i embark on a project with this car, it ends up being a complete nightmare and in the end is WORSE off for the effort. i'm gonna get these brakes working and one of you guys is gonna buy it. i'm throwing in the towel.

Well as it appears that you are giving up on it, I'll only point out one thing and leave it at that.

The pads should be sitting square on the rotors and if there is some lack of parallelism or "because the brake pads are at quite an angle and do not push straight at the rotor" you have something seriously wrong with the install on the brake pads, or similar.

Good thing it did not give you any brake pedal as it seems like a very unsafe situation and better to not have driven it. Any lack of parallelism would result in no ability of the MC to push the wheel calopers enough to do any good.

Check the install against a picture and see what is wrong. You don't need the special tools for pad spreading on the rear of a 914.

Anyway it comes out, I hope you find some peace.

eric

P.S. this is a labor of love and some people don't like that sort of thing. Do what works for you.

Hey Purp;

We've talked before and although I could never think about parting with my teener, it sounds like you're at the point where parting with your 914 might be the best plan of action. You've got the smokin Mini, a fiance, and it's clear the teener stopped being fun a while ago.

However, you're probably going to get a lot more for the teener with the brakes and carbs working correctly, so try to persevere.

Hey Houston members!!! Anybody out there that can lend a hand. Purp's a hellofa nice guy, just a bit stressed right now.

Whatever you decide, don't dissapear on us. You're a valuable member on this board.

Eric Read

Purple Wrote:
the venting clearance.... I must not have the right tool or something because the brake pads are at quite an angle and do not push straight at the rotor.

It doesn't sound like the rears are adjusted properly. The pad could be at an angle if the venting clearance is huge.

Would you detail how you set the venting clearance? If you did put it in this thread I missed it. There are hex-head adjusters on the outside of the calipers and on the inside.

I usually don't measure the venting clearance. I just tighten until the pad is tight on the rotor then back off slightly until the pads are loose and don't drag on the rotor as the rotor is turned.

Just checking to make sure that by "stomp" you meant that your gf was pushing the brake pedal slowly?

So yeah, I think you should sell it. It's seems pretty clear from what you're saying that it's not the right car for you. Take part of the proceeds from the sale and buy yourself a new computer. Just like that, 2/3 of your frustration and stress is gone. And hell, I'll help your parents with their internet connection, seriously, PM me.

Life's too short to have the main source of your unhappiness come from what is (for a lot of us) a toy. And it sounds to me like you didn't just quit on it, you've put in a lot of time and effort and find yourself pissed off. So it didn't pan out like you thought! No big deal. Sell the car...move on...absolutely nothing wrong with that.



edit: I don't mean to undermine the attempts by other members here to help you resolve your problem. This is a place where people are passionate about their cars and this community, so I respect the fact that people are telling you not to give up. To me though, your verbiage speaks pretty strongly to where you're at...

The rear pads just dont seem right to me... if you look down at the top of the caliper, they look like this... \||/... with || being the rotor. It seems that the pad spreaders or clips are keeping the top of the pad way back against the body of the caliper while the pistons only push out the other end. I didnt put the pads in, but they looked just like the old pads for how they were installed. The haynes has the rear venting set up with the pad clip thingies out, but this just doesnt make sense to me, the pads would be adjusted correctly for something that wouldnt actually be used, the clips would be there when the car is actually driven. I dont understand how to get the pads parallel to the rotor, they are always at at angle.

99% of the pedal pushing was slow and firm, but the pedal always went to the floor. I'm used to a pretty hard pedal in that car and not but 2 inches at most of travel. I said to stomp occasionally only on the rears as I figured it would knock some air bubbles around if she did. it actually did jar a few bubbles when she did that.

Thanks man

I really thought I would be having a lot of fun and do some nice builds, improve this and that and have fun with a car I can take to work on fridays or drive a little on weekend mornings. I cant drive it to work on fridays because the transmission cant take stop & go traffic (lots of grinding, even after adjusting the clutch) The carbs are poorly tuned (i've tried, oh god how i've tried) and just after tip-in they puff and chuff and i've gotten at least 1 small fire out the throats because of this. running up the RPM's is nice though, but the tiny amount of throttle used to keep the car going is just troublesome for it. the weber progressive ran and started better. it started like a champ with that carb, now it's a lot of grinding on the starter and really bad idling until i can touch the throttle (otherwise it'll die)

I replaced all the shocks (surprisingly easy!) the rears were original.

i put on all the engine tin, only one piece of under-tin was installed by the PO, the rest was gone, it overheated because of that.

I put a new alternator in, that was easy too

new ignition(mallory unilite) I cant time it correctly because if i set it to factory spec, it runs like a tractor.

i por-15'ed the gas tank, put in a cb rotary pump, and a glass fuel filter so you can see the fuel in the line, and the tank leaks where i put the new screen in (its annoying to come back from a full tank to a 1/4)

I put in rack spacers because the bump-steer was incredible that was pretty hard, but i got it done.

the only thing as maddening and miffing as this was the engine timing. omfg, figuring out why my car would not run at all was the single most irritating thing i've ever experienced in my life! I was kicking boxes around and throwing shit because i just couldnt figure it out. i looked like a damn silverback gorilla for how stupid i was acting!

I now have a car that CAN run, albeit poorly, and cant stop. I thought I'd be able to do a whole brake system overhaul and be amazed by how awesome these new brakes would be. WRONG. what I got was a mouthful of ash, just like with every other project on this car. I was looking forward to a really powerful engine after these new EXPENSIVE carbs. WRONG. it's still a dog. my 1.6L mini goes like a scaled cat compared to this, and is FAR more stable. I can do god-like turns in the MINI. I feel like i'm driving a 64 lincoln in the porsche by comparison. try to turn to fast and watch it go sideways (which can be fun, i'll give you)

I've put so much blood, sweat and tears into this car and am continually disappointed with the results. a lot of it comes from the fact that i've never done most of this stuff before. sadly, i dont want to do most of it again. it's a punishing car and a hobby I can not financially sustain to make a car worthy of my dreams and it's one that i simply dont have any more emotion for, save annoyance or maybe even hatred.

i want this car to go to a good home, with someone more skilled than me working on it. I dont think I have the skill or the tools to keep this hobby going. it's not fun anymore, it stopped being enjoyable long ago, and has just become more WORK.

once I get this working, I will list it here. it will likely be affordable to most of you since the car was supposed to be a track/ax car for me. its interior is spray on bedliner (po) and has a momo wheel(po) and center console with racing seats and harnesses (po) the engine is a mystery (po) with great induction, ignition, and exhaust(me) that really needs a tuning. and the transmission leaks from the shifter(i have the seal, but not the tools to fix it)

the mini does that(track) job now, and i'm thinking of quitting that too. motorsports is a hobby far too expensive for me, much like most baby boomer hobbies (sailing, golf, corvettes, mistresses, house flipping, etc) I'm living way beyond my means and I need to reel my life in.

I feel like I'm parting with a child or a pet, but it feels like the right decision. I need to pursue more humble hobbies that I can afford. I will also likely be a ghost on here as well.

Purple, do you have a camara? Take some pic's, lets have a look.Your just to far

away. The stock brakes are very good and will stop you quick. I went to a

19mm M/C and submarined my passenger. You just need to work out the bugs.

Don't take it personal, the car doesn't hate you. They really

are fun when squared away. Best of luck.

I've had a love/hate relationship with my car for years. Just ask my friends. I can't tell you how many times they've talked me out of selling it. I always finally get whatever is wrong fixed, and enjoy the car a while before I have to fix something else. I'm lucky to have people around me who know what they're doing and can talk me thru it. Brakes a finicky. So are carbs. Keep at it. I'm willing to bet that once the issues are resolved, and you get to drive it while everything is working good, that you'll enjoy it. Just keep at it.

Okay, I've calmed down a bit and realize a mistake I made.... I didnt do the venting clearance correctly. if you dont set it very well, does that make the brake pedal feel miles long? I must have incorrectly thought that any pressure on the brake system will make the brakes work. I didnt realize they have to be really close. I thought the front brakes would at least work well.

The venting should be done with the pad seperators off, as I read from pelican. I did mine with them on, I guess that was the wrong thing to do I'm having a friend come over (has two porsches, a 993 and a 76 911) and have him help me with the brakes (he's done lots of bleeding and can tell me what to do if I mess up)

the engine tuning I probably will have done by a professional and from there I can maintain it. i'm just not experienced enough to get it right, and I'm afraid I'll kill the engine if i keep this up.

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.

Okay!

The reason I think to take the spacers off is because if I adjust them with the spacers on, they go towards the rotor at a severe angle. I can adjust the tippy point to .004 but the side with the spacers will be MASSIVELY far away. I guess I just keep cranking em in? I dunno when they will become parallel and stop being angly.

Don't forget that the correct venting clearance is 0.004" between the pad and the rotor. You basically have to jig the feeler guage (move up down a bit) while turning the adjuster and 'feel' the drag on the feeler increase up to the point where the drag is not quite clamped. If you get it too tight, you have to back off and try again. It will take a few tries to get the right 'feel'. Then spin the rotor to see if you get it to rub anywhere in the rotation. At the tightest spot, you may want to reset the clearance one more time. You have to do this for each of the 4 pads. Make sure you lock the outer adjuster, and securely cap the inner adjuster. You may want to remove one of the inner adjusters before capping and put away in a secure location. The inner caps are supposed to have a copper washer under the head. You may have to rap on the rear calipers with a rubber mallet to dislodge bubbles deep in the adjuster mechanisms. If you apply the brakes (foot on pedal) then that will compress the bubbles and make it easier to dislodge bubbles in the various components of the brake system.

Since the front calipers do not have an adjustment mechanism, you have to use hydraulic pressure to force the pistons out to make the pads contact the rotors.

I always remove old fluid from the reservoir with a syringe before starting, clean with Q-tips, and fill with fresh fluid. Keep brake fluid away from paint!!

When bleeding, the person pumping the pedal may have to pump several times to build up pressure, then hold the pedal down while the other person opens the bleed nipple to let the fluid and air out, then close the bleed nipple again before the brake pedal is released. With old master cylinders it is not recommended to allow the pedal to go to the spot. In such cases a wooden block can be used to spot the pedal perhaps half way. The reasoning is that an old cylinder may have faults in the bore (caused by rust or dirt) that could damage the seal on the piston. To reduce the chance of damage to the seal you restrict the stroke. Most times you get lucky and no damage is done, however if you have only s**t luck, then take the extra precautions. Normally I use my wife or daughter to pump, and call out PUMP, HOLD, and RELEASE while I open and close the bleed nipple. Carefully watch how much fluid comes out, and every two ounces go and refill the reservoir; never let the reservoir empty or you will have to start again.

I think something else is at play...

I just adjusted the rear pads nice and close to the rotor, they seem to have gone parallel while i wasnt looking. i adjusted them just as described...

I drove it up to 20 mph and braked hard. this got the car to slow down rapidly. i then did it again and again, until it started to make my tires squeal, then until it made them lock up. I think what's going on is that new pads + new rotors that arent turned very neatly makes the pedal feel a little slippery at first. I think i need to run it up to 60 and then do some good hard stops, not quite to locking, right? to bed the pads?

the pedal is still a little long for my tastes, but it's better than it used to be. I guess I'll just have to keep bleeding it and making offerings to the sun goddess until the pedal firms up a bit. it's like stepping on a really big spring, instead of a solid column.

I wish there was a system that would pressurize all 4 calipers hard and then push the bubbles up to the mc reservoir... hydraulics are hard to mess with.

i'm not happy with the pedal, but the brakes do stop the car

Purple. I have been fooling with 914s since 1974. I suspect that you were very young or not even on earth yet at that point.

How many cars have you driven without power brakes.

These things will stop you easily, as long as you run stock engine and tires. BUT they will NEVER be as hard as you think they should be compared to a modern car with power brakes.

I think you will be bothered by this for awhile. Drive the car more.

PS: Do not expect many "looks" in a 914. Although for awhile I had a bright red 914 with flairs, 9" wide wheels, 5 lugs and the works. Neat car. (Still have the car, altough now it has evolved into a DE car). (And its brakes are no longer stock, but they are Porsche brakes...930 front and Carrera rears, with a 23mm master, and it is NOT hard like a modern car with power brakes, but it will stop like a modern car). And at the same time I had a white 930 with gold wheels. Gorgeous car. Fast. Just Awesome. The 914 would turn more heads.

All depends. Stick with the 914. It will grow on you. And just think, in 34 years you may be near my age and we will both still be driving 914s, and they will be 68 years old.

Sounds like you got the venting clearance under control. Good job.

I would imagine that new rotors/pads may take a little bit of working together to properly seat and provide even braking.

About the long pedal, it could be the venting clearance is still larger than it needs to be or the brakes still need bleeding. You can tell if they need bleeding if when sitting still and you haven't touched the brakes for a minute or so, the first pedal press will go further down than the next few quick presses. If the pedal goes down the same amount on all quick presses, then bleeding is ok.

If you really want a firm brake pedal, you can replace the stock 17mm master cylinder with a larger master cylinder.

The 19mm master cylinders offer a much more firm pedal. However, you will have to go through this agonizing process all over again.

I suspect that if you keep bleeding the brakes, eventually you will get the firm pedal that you are looking for.

I also suspect that you got yourself used to the "impossible to press" brake pedal that you had when your brake lines were restricting fluid flow and your calipers were sticking or stuck. Now that your brakes are more functional, learn how to drive the car.

In my experience, you will find that you use the brakes less the better you get at driving.

Good luck with it.