Brakes Help!
 

got problems with my brakes. supposedly the master cyylinder on my z is new and when it was installed the pushrod in the servo was messed with. as a result the pedal fet wimpy and there was only minimal brak power. made driving on the freeway scary. so I put new pads and shoes on cause it needed it anyway replaces the brake hoses and ajusted the pushrod to what it said in the haynes which was between .132and .154 inches from the face of the servo. I had no brakes crappy. so I adjusted it out more, a lot more. and the brakes still felt crappy but I had brakes at least. then driving down the road the brakes locked up and started smoking, you see they were on the whole time and the brake fluid got hot and expanded. crap

so I have no idea how far out to put the pushrod in the servo and the brakes still feel crappy. I read somewhere that on a newer master cylinder the rear and front brake lines are the reverse of stock. how far out should I adjust the pushrod and should I switch the brake lines??

also my hood release cable broke and I need a way to get under the hood, also the motor in the 240 is out of a 82 280zx and I have no idea what the timing is on it, can someone point me in the right direction there the way haynes says to do the timing is really wierd, something with a lightbulb between ground and the distributor and turn the distributor till the lightbult is not lit or something. thanks

1. Brakes -- First, you might want to make sure your brake lines are not reversed. The larger reservoir on the master cylinder is for the front disc brakes, and the smaller one is for the rear drums. As far as adjusting the push rod properly, I would go by what's in the Haynes Manual. There should be a little freeplay in the push rod and at the pedal. If the push rod is misadjusted and allows no freeplay, then it can prevent the pistons' return travel and cause the problem you're having with the brakes locking-up.

2. Broken Hood Release Cable -- How badly is it broken? Have you tried pulling the cable with pliers from inside the car? It might also help if you had someone press down on the front of the hood while you're doing this.

3. Timing -- On an 82 280ZX NA, the timing should be set at 8 +/- 2° BTDC @ 700 +/- 100 rpm/idle speed. The procedure is listed in the Tune-Up/Maintenance chapter of the Hayne's Manual (pp. 44-45 in my book). With the use of a timing light, you can check the marks to see whether they're in alignment. If not, then the timing is off, and the distributor would need to be rotated until the marks do align with each other.

Was it the front or rear brakes that locked up? ...or can you tell?

If it was your drums, then maybe your auto-adjsuters aren't working right and they adjusted the shoes out too far.

pretty sure both were having problems but there was definately smoke coming from the front brakes

That's not necessarily true. At some point, Nissan switched master cylinders from tokico to nabco units, and the reservoirs were switched front to back. There will be an F and an R printed below cylinders dictating which is which

Yes, Auxilary, there were two different manufacturers of the master cylinder, Nabco or Tokico. However, the same applies to either unit -- the larger reservior is for the disc brakes and smaller one for the drums. The reason is because the front disc brakes require more fluid pressure and volume than the rear drum brakes, making it necessary for more fluid to be pushed from the cylinder. And, the pads wear faster than the shoes, causing the fluid level to drop quicker. That's why the disc brake reservior is larger - to hold more fluid. Also, when the lines are reversed, the front disc brakes will drag excessively -- the problem that 240Z71 is currently having. ;)

I have a question for 240z71. Are you using a new or rebuilt master. The reason i ask is because when my master went out in my 78Z I replaced it with a reman I lost all brakes after about 2 weeks. I did this 3 times and had the same result. So I spent the extra 100 bucks and got the new Tokico and havent had a problem since. Also with the new master it was basically R&R no real adjustments needed. Thought this might help you some.

hey, I have a question about my brakes too. I noticed the other day that my pedal was sagging more than usual, but I went ahead and bled the lines. They don't sag anymore, but I've noticed that the pedal goes down farther. There isn't any air in the lines. I think I need new pads, because they screech when I drive. Could that be the problem?

Look at your pads but usualy if your edal is sagging your master may be going or you could have a leak somewhere. But check your pads and see if your rear drumsare adjusted like they should be that could be another reason.

I ahve already determined that my rear auto adjusters don't work
so I adjusted them by hand

problem is I don't know how to get the drum off if I need to now
also the hood cable broke on the hood side not the handle side so I have to get under the car and figure out how to open the latch problem is there is a transmission in the way

To remove the drums just pull the tire and tap on the drums with a hammer, Rubber mallet preferably, dont want to damage those drums.
As for the hood you have a problem. I eliminated that problem with hood pins. Sorry i cant help you there.
https://www.zdriver.com/gallery/show...t=1&thecat=500

For the hood, if you unbolt the hinges you may be able to lift the hood enough for a skinny guy to go under the front of the hood and either pop the release or unbolt the latch. Been there done that.

well, the brake booster already went out a while ago, this was another one of the problems that I had to repair before I was allowed to drive the car. We took the brake booster off a 75 240Z, I believe (if they made the 240 then). The booster is fine, I think I'll just change pads when I get my oil changed.