Brake Restoration

My first “restoration” was really more a repair out of necessity. The brake light on the dash was on when I bought the car. In order to title the car in Texas, it first had to pass a state safety inspection. So I had to repair the brakes – including the parking brakes – so I could pass.
	The picture to the left is the right rear brake caliper. As you can see, it is pretty much a piece of rust. The picture below is the parking brake assy. I have started removing rust and priming the trailing arms while waiting on new brake parts. The trailing arms were about in the same shape as the calipers!

	I replaced the parking brake parts with stainless steel parts and new shoes. With the rotor back in place, I installed the new caliper
			I also replaced the front calipers at the same time. I purchased the complete package from Muskegon Brakes. It had “new” calipers, brake pads, new brake hoses and lines, hardware, and silicone brake fluid. I was warned about using silicone brake fluid but I chose to use it since it supposedly was not susceptible to water. I had a really tough time bleeding the brakes. The vacuum pump method did not work. After trying to bleed the brakes for 3 days, I bought some speed bleeders. They work great. Shortly after getting the brakes replaced (and passing inspection) my brakes starting locking down to the point you could not drive the car. I ended up replacing the power brake booster. Things were working great after that.