Mooshy Brakes.

[denguy]

I had to work on my rear brakes and wheel bearing. While back there I did not keep an eye on the fluid level in the master cylinder. It went down and some air got into the system. Braking later pulled car to the left a little. Problem was not severe so I kept driving it daily until I could get around to bleeding it, this is car is so light it probably only needs one brake anyway. Gradually the left pulling went away and the car now stays true under braking. What happened?

[firebush357]

These cars don't have the most powerful brakes as it is... please bleed you brakes before you die...

[FestYboy]

Ahhh, more than likely while you were working around the shoes, the adjuster was reset, causing excessive travel between the shoes and drum. This will cause a low pedal. Also ANY air in the system will extend the pedal travel and make the pedal squishy.

Once you blead the brakes, the adjusters in the rear were able to set themselves to something close to proper.

Here's a trick I learned to get the adjustment better than stock: remove ONE lug stud from each rear wheel (if you have any alloys or spacers, the wheel needs removed). Now rotate the wheel untill the adjuster cam lines up with the hole. Take a pick or small flat tipped screw driver and PULL the cam towards you ( it will rotate to the face of the drum). They should now drag just a little.

If the cam gets pushed in, no worries, just jump on the brake pedal and it will reset itself bact to where it was. Then try again.

[TominMO]

Here's a trick I learned to get the adjustment better than stock: remove ONE lug stud from each rear wheel (if you have any alloys or spacers, the wheel needs removed). Now rotate the wheel until the adjuster cam lines up with the hole. Take a pick or small flat tipped screw driver and PULL the cam towards you ( it will rotate to the face of the drum). They should now drag just a little.

If the cam gets pushed in, no worries, just jump on the brake pedal and it will reset itself bact to where it was. Then try again.

Great tip there. However, I foolishly replaced my lug bolts with screw-in studs (and red Loctite). Guess I could replace one stud with an aftermarket lug bolt (becuz aluminum wheels).

[denguy]

I had trouble bleeding the brakes. Finally I ran clear plastic tubing from brake bleed screw up to suspended funnel. Poured in some fluid, pumped pedal, kept an eye on master cylinder. It worked for me, but I wish they made the tip of those bleed screws longer.

[TominMO]

Two tips when installing new wheel cylinders:
1. Fill the cylinder with brake fluid before installing, so there is less pumping required. After installing the wheel cylinder, pull off the little plastic cap that covers the brake line hole, then screw on the brake line before you lose too much fluid.
2. Get Speed Bleeders! With them and pre-filling the wheel cylinder, it is often a one-pump operation, and an easy one-man job. Fluid goes out when depressing the pedal, but air can't come in when you let the pedal back up.

Speed Bleeder website. They don't list Festivas, but do list Aspires. Same part #, SB8100 front and rear. They also come in stainless, and have anti-seize already on them.

[denguy]

Thanks for the speedbleeder info.