ZEROPILOT

The car is still in the air. Wheels off. I've replaced my ceramic pads with organics. Ceramics being super hard. And replaced my rear shoes again. They got soaked with brake fluid while I was blowing out and flushing, bleeding the system. I had my brother help me to "old school" two man bleed the system. Each bleeder when opened made the pedal drop to the floor. Now there is once again good pedal feel. I'll put it back on the road soon and see if it's any different.

Yes. One of the first things I did was test the vacuum to make sure it had what the manual says was the minimum. It had more than that.

Yep. Two of them. Like original. Even a week later, theres still vacuum if I pull the line off

Thank you for that. I've got the whole thing taken apart and I'm blowing compresses air through. I just found a blockage in the left rear from the proportioning valve. But now there is flow. A chunk of what I think is solids from some 35 year old brake fluid came out. And now air can flow both ways. The 4AGE makes access to the proportioning valve very difficult because the intake manifold sits right up next to it. So removal might be needed to remove the valve for cleaning. The new booster and another master have now been installed. So, soon I can check the action. And YES I know that that is a "wonky" vacuum hose. I'll use a correct but ugly one for testing that is less prone to collapsing.

I got a spare booster, master, lines and junction blocks for parts today. These parts are very hard to find. But at least I have a few spare parts if I find a clogged line or something rusted closed. Its night time here in the east coast of the USA. I'll get on it in the morning and report back. Thanks

I just swapped them all out last month. Both fronts and the one in the rear.

I did say 4 cam. Didn't I? Sorry. It's a drivetrain yanked out of an '88 SR-5 COROLLA. AE86. Rebuilt and mostly stock. Rear end from a Celica (U.S. Starlets had no limited slip diff) So it had about 60 hp in 1981 and now its pushing maybe 115-120. It's pretty fun! At least it would be if the brakes actually worked. This is one of a few vehicles. So it wont get much use anyway. But at this rate. I'm afraid to use it at all.

This was one of my initial thoughts. I adjust the pedal. Adjusted the booster pushrod and at one point even made a shim to slip between the master and booster. None of it made a bit of difference except pedal height.

I must say that that makes a great deal of sense. Thanks.

That's what I'll try first. If just because it sounds like the easiest thing to do with the master and booster off. I'll get some clean rags ready and see what kind of crap comes out of there.

Thanks I have the master and booster both out of the car. Tomorrow I'll get the front end up and pull the wheels off to blow compressed air into each line. There's not much room under the hood with the master and booster installed since it now has a later model 16 valve 4 cam motor in there. I'll report back what I find

I bought my KP61 after it had sat unused for over 8 years. I replaced the fuel system. Engine and transmission and bled the brakes. But the pedal was rock hard and had little stopping power. "No problem" I thought. And I replaced the brake booster, master, all flexible lines, the calipers, rotors, drums and rear wheel cylinders as well as shoes and pads. Yep. Same crap!! Hard pedal and almost no brakes. Just like before I did ANYTHING. The brake booster holds vacuum for days and the vacuum is very strong. The vacuum line is an actual vacuum line and the check valves are new. My first thought was that the new booster is also no good. But I noticed when I bled the system that the rear brakes bled easily and quickly. But the front brakes required more work. With less flow. I didn't think much about it at the time. But do you think I could have a blocked steel line? I've never heard of that before. And would a blockage or partial blockage to either front wheel after the "splitter" make for a hard pedal? Or would it be more likely in the line from the master before the splitter? Is this something anyone has encountered before? This is a U.S. spec 1981 Toyota KP61 Starlet RWD. With stock brakes. Double master. Separate front and rear reservoirs. I'm not yet familiar with all of the lines or where exactly they go. Or if a blocked or partially blocked line would cause a hard pedal. I cant really drive because I can barely stop.