This time it's Brakes, all four disks locked up solid.

[57chevy]

Yet another issue has appeared with the ongoing change over of the 94 TA engine and the rest of the "guts" into the 99 Firebird.

We are using the 94 complete brake system -less the 94 calipers. Instead we kept the 99 larger rotors and calipers on the car (Yes, swapped the rear backing plates, the front spindles etc).

Master cylinder was bench bled, then we bled the ABS unit (front most bleeder first.) Then the front brakes at the caliper. Without the scan tool, we then drove the car over three miles an hour to cycle the abs like we've read can be done on the net.

Front brakes dragged the whole time. Once back in the shop we then bled the rear lines. Unhooked the battery to reset computer, then tried a test drive -it would barely move!

All four disks are locked solid, the car is a huge non rolling brick now!

One other issue has come up while trying to figure out the brake issue -when we installed the booster and master cylinder in the car (we have both complete sets from the 94 & 99 both look identical as far as push rod lengths sizes etc), to connect the brake pedal to the booster rod, we had to push the rod forward into the master cylinder, the rod extended too far back to hook up to the pedal.

Doing so also meant we were applying the brakes in the process. (Not a problem at the time since it hadn't been bled as yet).

We've since disassembled the other booster to see if there were/are any adjustments available but cannot find anyway to adjust the rod length.

It's got us stumped! Either we've went astray on the ABS somewhere or it's simply the brake rod to pedal problem. Both cars had working brakes when we started the project...

Any help -suggestions???

[bigjon88]

are the pedals different btw 94 and 99?

[81DaytonaPaceCar]

Probably the rod is a contributor...but I wouldn't think that alone would lock up all four over time.

Try pulling the vacuum hose going to the booster when they're locked up.

If it unlocks, it's likely either the booster itself or a bad check valve.

But I would definitely get the proper adjustment rod...

[57chevy]

We were lacking about 3/8 of an inch for the rod to attach properly to the pedal. After spending some quality time under the dash debating options, we decided to try moving the pedal mounting bracket to gain the distance we needed.

The 99 came with an electronic throttle with the V6, the 94 had the regular throttle cable for the LT1, I'd forgotten we'd transferred the entire bracket assembly to the 99 early in the changeover process to be able to use the cable. The bracket bolts to the firewall so we gave no thought to bolting it into the car. Once we got the bolts loosened for the entire bracket we gained about half of what we needed sliding the bracket rearward and re-tighting.

The stop on the pedal hits the brake light switch, so we decided we'd bend the stop bracket slightly to gain the rest of what we needed. When we applied pressure to the bracket there was a bang -like something had been bound up and suddenly the rod now fit perfectly.

We've inspected it closely for anything that might have broke or popped off, we cannot find anything that looks damaged. The only thing we can think of is we had the bracket under some type of bind and when we went to bend the stop bracket, the load was removed.

Brakes are now good! We did a test drive and with a couple heavy braking sessions, we stopped straight and smooth...

Yet' one more issue with the change over that had us going for a couple days!

Thanks for the help!
57Chevy

[bigjon88]

congrats