Brakes not very good..... :(

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carcrazyguy

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I was backing the Dart out of the shop today so I could do a little work to another one of my project cars. I personally have not driven the Dart any at all except backing it out of the shop today, but I noticed that when I press the brake pedal the engine will start missing. I know that is usually some sort of vacuum leak. The brakes were fine a few weeks ago when my Dad and I had the car out for state inspection?? Anyway is there a way to test the brake booster??? Any other suggestions on tracing the issue??

The car had 4 inch (sbp) drum brakes. We swapped over to lbp 4.5 inch disc on the front.
 
Try a vacume gauge on the intake. With the engine running step on the brakes and look for a big drop in vacume.
 
I stopped working on the 71 Satellite long enough to mess with the brakes on the Dart today. When we disconnected the vacuum line from the booster to the intake and blocked it off at the booster. The car will idle fine and I have a good brake pedal. However connecting the line back, when I touch the brakes it will stumble. So I am guessing the booser is the issue.

Anyone know where to find the correct brake boosters for these cars? It is a 71 Dart that has been converted from power drum to power disc brakes off a 73 Dart.
 
hey crazy car guy i bought a reman booster at a local parts store it was identical to the one i had taken off and has worked flawlessly it was a Independent Auto Parts of America or IAPA parts store meaning it wasnt a chain of parts stores and i got it for 80 bucks Hope you can find one near you if not carquest had the same booster but it was about 125.00 so if you can find an independent parts store you can save some money. Good Luck Justin
 
Looks like most the local parts stores have them available to order for about $150. So that will be the next plan of attack!
 
Well after 3 parts stores......OUT OF LUCK...

All 3 said they could get a power brake booster until I tried to order it. When they went to order it the "computer" showed that the "item discontinued by vendor and no longer available to order". So I guess I am back to square one...??? Anyone know a company that rebuilds them? Or how hard to swap to manual brakes??
 
carcrazyguy said:
Well after 3 parts stores......OUT OF LUCK...

All 3 said they could get a power brake booster until I tried to order it. When they went to order it the "computer" showed that the "item discontinued by vendor and no longer available to order". So I guess I am back to square one...??? Anyone know a company that rebuilds them? Or how hard to swap to manual brakes??
Click to expand...

I ran into the same trouble trying to find one for my 70 Duster ... I finally broke down and bought this one... http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_10001_10002_753353_-1_10161 from Jegs ... not cheap, but it works and looks cool ... Good Luck

Kenny
 
Most likely going to convert to manual brakes. A shiney chrome booster would make the rest of the car look bad (as in not good).
 
hey crazy car guy here is the number of the auto parts store here in oregon i got mine at in august of this year and they said they could get more if i needed them. It is called BC Auto parts and the number is 541-672-2633 you can probably call them with a credit card # and order it and they may ship it to you direct if not if you can call up and pay for it over the phone i could go out there and get it and ship it to you. You just pay the actual shipping just call them and let me know if i can help anymore. Justin
 
Check out www.rockauto.com they have the booster with new master cylinder for $115
raframecatalog.php
 
Thanks for the information and suggestions!!

I have one quick question before I end up with the wrong booster. I found a local "specialty" auto parts store that can get me a booster. His books show that 71 model boosters are different than 73 model Darts. I have a 71 Dart but when we swapped over to the 73 disc (also from a Dart), Dad swapped the booster and all over??????? So when I go to get the new reman brake booster do I need to get the booster for a 71 or a 73???

From "car-stuff" website it shows all 67-71 cars with either drum or disc had the same booster?? So could it be my issues are because I now have a 73 booster on the car???
 
no i dont think the 73 booster is your problem i think if you went with the 73 up stuff you should stick with the 73 up booster i have the same setup on my 72 dart and have had no problems at all Justin
 
Well I am going to head out to the shop and pull the booster. Some have sent me PM's saying they are using the factory booster that came with their drum brake set-up so I may put my original back on and see if it helps anything. I will update later!
 
Well the booster is still on the Dart :( I was heading out to the shop and a friend called that his truck was DOA. So had to go rescue him and the truck. Maybe this weekend I can get some work done on the Dart.
 
I changed the booster on the car. I put the booster back on that originally came with the car. First time I pushed the brake pedal it felt good. After that the pedal started getting soft. I see that I have a slight leak at the proportioning valve. I tightened one of the lines (I could see which one was dripping) and thought I was cured!! Well I start the car today to take it down the street for the first time....hardly any brakes at all. :( The pedal is soft and spongy. So I am stuck on what to do next????
 
I will try that in the morning. I got tired of scratching my head so I called it a day about 8:00pm. It was one of those days today.... :) To top it off when I started the car to pull it back in the shop tonight, it was loading up horribly and even at 1/2 throttle it was bouncing all over the rpm range. Pulled the carb and it had trash between the needle and seat. Got that cleaned out put the carb back together and it ran fine for about 15 seconds and did the same thing again. So I am guessing that the inside of the original gas tank might be in bad shape. I pulled the carb again and plan to take it apart again and clean it up. Then I am going to change the fuel filter and hope it can catch the trash. Guess I will be ordering a new fuel tank pretty soon :)
 
Update from todays progress.....well work, but not much progress... :)

Pulled the carb for the second time....tore it down and but didn't see anything causing the rich issue....put the carb back together and bolted it on...ran fine for 20 minutes then back to the running really rich????????


As for the brakes....tried to bleed them again this morning...no change, still not much pedal at all. Decided to change the fluid out (old fluid had been sitting since 2005 and the car has not been moved more than 1/4 mile at the most) to Valvoline Synthethic and bleed them off again. Pedal feels a little better, still seems spongey, however the car was running so rich that when I tried to put the car in gear to check the brakes, it would die. :(

As much as I like to think of it as a chance to learn, I am almost out of ideas :)
 
We are going to head back out to the shop and try to figure everything out. The timing was set by the machine shop that built the motor. They tuned it on the dyno and checked it for leaks, however I will take a timing light out today and check it. I will post a picture of the carb, it is a later (mid-late 70's) model 2 bbl Carter ball in ball.

Picture 025.jpg
 
Well after doing a few things.....new vacuum advance, points and condenser, dist cap and rotor, reset the timing and adjusting the idle.....pulled the Dart out of the shop and drove it down the road and back!!! I had a decent brake pedal so I guess the original booster was still good and the new brake fluid solved my brake issue. To bad the weather was 33 and cloudy or I would have been at the car wash getting the dust off the car!!!! I am thinking maybe about 2 weeks worth of cleaning on the engine compartment and some polish and I can get some good pics!!!! :) Hopefully by then I can find the correct carb for the car!!! I hate having to plug unused vacuum ports....looks like crap!!
 
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