brake pedal height

Will98D · 11-14-2001, 05:45 AM

Well, I finally bled the brakes with Ate Super Blue. The pedal doesn't pump-up anymore like it used to, but it still goes down about 1/2 way before stopping. Is this normal for a 914? Once stopped it's pretty firm. Do the adjustments to the back brakes affect pedal travel or only the parking brake circuit?

Dave at Pelican Parts · Dave at Pelican Parts's Garage

You can adjust a couple of things that affect where the brake pedal makes the brakes grab.

The venting clearance of the rear brakes is one. Haynes has the procedure for this, and (surprise!) it's not that badly written. Do yourself a favor, though--get some mirrors and flashlights so you can see what kind of plugs you have over the inboard adjusters. They'll either be the internal-hex ones that require a loooong Allen wrench (or an Allen socket on a longish extension), or the aftermarket regular hex ones that require a socket and extension to get.

Or, if the PO of your car was the same as mine, they'll be regular bolts epoxied to the stock internal-hex plugs... Eeeecccccchhhhh....

Anyway, I wound up with the clearance on mine set to about half of the spec listed in Haynes.

The other adjustment is at the pushrod between the pedal and the master cylinder. There's a spec for free play which you can mess with a little bit, but make sure that you have some free-play. Otherwise you're putting extra load on the braking system all the time, which can lead to very rapid wear of everything.

I left the pushrod clearance alone.

--DD

Will98D · 11-14-2001, 08:18 AM

Thanks for the advice... I'll check the clearance. My PO must have had a lousy mechanic (or she was a lousy mechanic). The right front rotor has a socket head bolt stuck into the hole where the bottom bleeder belongs. Nice, huh?

jabez · 11-14-2001, 10:32 AM

Dave,

When you said 1/2 the spec, did you meen the gap was smaller or wider? If I set mine to spec, they seem to drag a little (that fine German rust probably helps).

GS

John Rogers · 11-14-2001, 11:01 AM

Dave is right about the vent clearance reduction on the rear. If Haynes says .008 then make it .004 and the rear brakes will work a lot better. For the pedal to m/c clearance, if you use your hand you can easily feel when the rod contacts the piston in the m/c as you push down on the pedal. If I remember correctly it is pretty small, like 1 or 2mm. If you adjust this, check the brake light switch to make sure the little lever on it did not get bent or moved. Good luck.