guys,
seems like eveyones complete brake kits are all of questionable quality.
mine is from performanceonline. i have seen them in the car and truck magazines for years, and thats why i went with them.
my problems were::
1--caliper mounting bracket that bolts tot eh spindle needed major grinding on the inboard area where the caliper slides on. the back of the inboard pad rivets were bubbing and preventing the caliper from sliding on.
2-- then i had to grind a hump off the middle of the caliper that was coming into contact with one of the spindle bolts, causing it to not bolt onto the caliper bracket, had to grind both calipers, drivers and passenger side.
3--the bearing spacer that slides onto the spindle first, so the new rotor and tapered bearing will work, i had to take them both to work and chuck them up in the lathe and bore .003-.004" out of the I.D. so they would slide onto my spindles.
4--banjo washer leak on drivers side caliper. luckily i got it fixed, since i was searching all local auto parts stores and theres were not any better looking.
5--major thread slop on the same drivers side caliper bleeder screw, preventing me from getting a good bleed when cracking the bleeder when bleeding that wheel. finally figured it out and wrapped it with some teflon tape, then when cracked for bleeding it would not suck air, so it worked fine after the teflon tape.
6--had to bench bleed the master twice.
7-- had to take the new master cylinder piston out and re-install, because hte was taking up to 2 minutes to return to home position against the snap ring.
8-- had to fab a combination valve holder to keep it in the neutral position when bleeding so it would not kick off one side or the other.
those are the problems i ran into with my 900 dollar complete kit !!
and when i asked tham about returning the master, he said i would have to send back tothe manufacturer who is in another stae, let them look at it, and if they can fix it, fine. if not,t hen they woudl send me an new one.
i told the guy he has got to be kidding me. i aint gonna wait another 2 weeks because of something they have a problem with.
the guy called me back, saying another tech there had a customer witht he same problem, and suggested me to go by another master cylinder from my local auto parts dealer, he gave me the raybestos part number, and take the guts out and use in mine, take the suspected bad guts from mine, put in the store bought master, and return for a refund !!!
can you believe that crap ? they will be hearing from me very soon about quality and customer service returns.
my master, booster, rotors are all brand new, and the rotors actually look better quality than any i have seen, and have a nice cross hatch on the surface.
the rotors and calipers are stock 1970-1978 camaro, so it will be easy to find replacements when they wear out.
mine is working fine now that i had to work my butt off fixing their screw ups, and it breaks very good, even better than my factory 2--3 s-10 actually.
so as others have suggested here, i would but the caliper brackets, bearing spacers, master cylinder frame mounting bracket, then get the rotors, calipers, master, from a local auto store. that way if there is a problem with them you can return them and get another that same day while you are standing there.
hind sight is always 20/20, and man, i wish i woudl have listened to my buddy dave who told me to do it that way.
and he never runs the factory combination valve, only running a rear prop valve with residuals in fronts and backs.
hope this helps any of you trying to do this same install.
leonard
