The Camaro Club (UK)

Does the rear brake need fluid in order for the parking brake to function? I always thought it was mechanical, that way incase your fluid drops out, you still have a chance of stopping. I know the fluid is low, but i wanted to adjust the parking cable first, but it seems tight from the underneath adjuster, but when i push the parking brake pedal all the way down, i can still roll the car by pushing it, just the same as is it was off. There is fluid in the reservoir, but it's about half full (i think... how do i know how much should be in there?). Cheers!

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I filled it up as much as could, bled the rears, topped up a couple of times. Now i'm stuck on the front... what size are the bleed nipples? the rears were 8mm and fit spot on. The fronts, 10mm is too big and slips, 9mm won't go on. Same story both sides. Once again a small job that's taking more than half a day :/

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Ah, so it is 10mm, just helps if it isn't chewed or rusted in, both in my case Managed to free them up and there's enough hex left to put a bit of torque on them to bleed the fronts. Will need to get 2x new bleed screws. They were also clogged up so had to use a piece of wire to clean them out. Bled them out but not too happy with the pedal, it goes nearly all the way down without much effort. I bled from the furthest point (rear passenger) and worked my way to the closest point, the front driver by the master cylinder. I could see bubbles come out first, then it settled down, used about 750ml of fluid.

Can't figure out the parking break either. Tightened it quite a bit more and it does have a bit of resistance when pushing it down, but you can still push the car. Seems to be a slight bit harder to push the car but still moves. Does seem to move less freely when the parking brake is off, so that makes me think it's already gripping, but then when you push it down, it doesn't seem to grip enough as it should... but it seems that if i tighten it more, it will be gripping more when it's off.

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Is the master cylinder properly bled ?? (can be done in situ with 2 people)

Are the shoes adjusted up properly inside the drums ? The auto adjusters are a bit crap.

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It is now That's helped firm things up.
Good question, don't really think i know how! I looked at the Chilton manual and it said to adjusted a star shaped adjuster. I found this and adjusted it, to move the shoes out, didn't seem to do a lot. One of the shoes are worn on each side (odd, as they should adjust and wear evenly) so i've ordered some new shoes and a drum brake hardware repair kit (new springs). Should arrive for bank holiday weekend, will swap out the shoes and springs then. What concerns me most is the lack of difference between having the parking brake on and off. I adjusted the adjuster (under the car) all the way and it became harder to turn the wheel, but still possible to turn it. It's hard to know if you've adjusted it correctly to the off position as you can't tell if it's slightly contacting or not.

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All I remember doing (when I had rear drums), was to adjust the wheel/cog thing to move the shoes out, you can see the sort of plate that hits the wheel, that's the self adjusting system, and get them out enough with the handbrake off so the drum, only just fits back over the shoes.. Seems to work for me every time... Handbrake was never great great though... Only other thought, Is the drum too worn ?

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“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”

Cheers Stu - I'll have another look and find the plate that would contact the wheel. I take it that this plate is designed to contact the inner drum before the pad does, that way it 'self adjusts' so that the shoes don't contact the drum when no pressure it being applied.

The drums seems ok in terms of wear, not sure how i can tell though, is there a measurement or something i can take? Had a look online quickly for a set of rear drums are needed and annoyingly it's far cheaper (as always) to get something imported, including shipping and VAT, just have to wait a week longer. I wonder if these UK resellers bother checking the prices, they're way out :/ I paid £8 for a set of rear shoes (both sides) from Rockauto over the weekend, UK reseller wants £35. So anyways, what's the best way to know if the drums are ok?

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I'm not 100% sure but I think the adjuster works by hitting the wheel when the brakes are applied so in theory when the gap gets to big (as the shoes wear) it will let the the threaded bit with the wheel cog turn a little bit to move the shoes out...
Check drums like you would brake discs. Badly worn drums have scores and grooves, and sometimes a ridge or lip on the edge as they wear down.

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“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”

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“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”

Very simplistic but a good basic explanation