Brake pedal is really stiff

Oh wow I didn't think anyone responded to this.

The MC is the original type to the car. I can't recall the number but I even had Dan give me the info on which MC to get to make sure it was the correct type with the correct bore size.

I'm not sure what you mean by 2" of travel being too much. Are you saying your brake pedal only travels about 1" when you press it? That doesn't give you much of a feel between light braking and locking the brakes up. My Duster has the exact same 9" brake setup and the pedal travels about twice as far as the Valiant's pedal. The Duster brakes feel great...for drums at least.

The brakes have never felt good since day 1. I bought the car without an engine and once I got it running, I noticed the brakes just felt like crap. This was before drums were ever turned on it. There has been absolutely no change in the brakes after everything I've replaced. You can tell that the brakes are bad just by pressing the pedal without the car moving. If the drums were turned too far and the shoes weren't touching the drum, you'd think there would be excessive movement in the pedal because the shoes have farther to travel. It feels as if I have the opposite problem.

I had no idea the rubber hoses could collapse from the inside without being visible on the outside so that's another thing to check. I've always wondered if it was the prop valve as well. Wouldn't that affect bleeding though?