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Brakes Help!

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Old 10-28-2003, 12:25 PM
  #2  
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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.
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Old 10-28-2003, 01:57 PM
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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.
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Old 10-29-2003, 09:01 AM
  #5  
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Originally posted by Z Babe
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.
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
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Old 10-29-2003, 10:44 AM
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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.
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