What is the Manual Brake Pedal Floor Clearance Spec. For 66 Corvette

[Larry E.]

On my 66 Corvette Coupe(Manual Brakes) project I noticed my brake pedal goes down pretty far when
the brakes are applied. Can not find the spec. for floor clearance. Can someone help me? Thanks-Larry

[Larry E.]

Re: What is the Manual Brake Pedal Floor Clearence Spec. For 66 Corvette

Let me ask this in a different way. On those members that have a Manual Brake System on a 66 or other C2's>How much room
is there between the bottom of the Brake Pedal and the Floor when the brakes are fully applied. Thanks again>Larry

[Duke W.]

Re: What is the Manual Brake Pedal Floor Clearence Spec. For 66 Corvette

There is no spec that you ask for. There should be very little pedal movement before you feel braking effort and firm resistance at the pedal. A low pedal can be caused by failure of one of the master cylinder circuits or air in the system.

Duke

[John F.]

Re: What is the Manual Brake Pedal Floor Clearence Spec. For 66 Corvette

I would bleed the brakes all the way around, and check all wheel cylinders and master cylinder for leakage! Also, Larry have you ever been to "cruise night" in Streator? My home town.

[Larry E.]

Re: What is the Manual Brake Pedal Floor Clearence Spec. For 66 Corvette

I would bleed the brakes all the way around, and check all wheel cylinders and master cylinder for leakage! Also, Larry have you ever been to "cruise night" in Streator? My home town.

John: Thanks for reply. Before I do anything to the brakes I want to know how much free pedal play is allowed. I know Duke said
"very little". Very little can mean a certain distance for someone and not the other. For the most part my car is a "trailer queen"
anyway. AFA Cruise Nights in Streator> I have never gone but have gone to Car Shows in Streator a while back. I stay away from
Cruise Nights in general as they can get too wild for me. As we all know going to one of these with a original numbers car is risky.
Thanks-Larry

[Duke W.]

Re: What is the Manual Brake Pedal Floor Clearence Spec. For 66 Corvette

John: Thanks for reply. Before I do anything to the brakes I want to know how much free pedal play is allowed. I know Duke said
"very little". Very little can mean a certain distance for someone and not the other. For the most part my car is a "trailer queen"
anyway. AFA Cruise Nights in Streator> I have never gone but have gone to Car Shows in Streator a while back. I stay away from
Cruise Nights in general as they can get too wild for me. As we all know going to one of these with a original numbers car is risky.
Thanks-Larry

Since the disk brake system is designed for "constant contact" brake pads the m/c piston needs to travel very little before hydraulic pressure builds... much less than drum brakes, say less than an inch at the pedal before you feel effective braking.

Master cylinders can develop internal leaks that cause one side to fail with no external signs of leakage.

Last year my neighbor complained about poor braking on his '77 (power brakes). I drove the car and found that it took a lot of force and pedal travel to achieve even moderate deceleration. Finally I got on the brakes hard enough to lock the rears, but there was no front dive, and I concluded that the front brake system had failed even though the "brake" light did not illuminate, which it should have if one side had failed.

We got the car up on jackstands. There was no visible sign of external leakage. I had the owner apply high pedal force. I couldn't turn the rear wheels, but the fronts turned freely. The fix was a rebuilt m/c and just to be sure we installed rebuilt front calipers and new hoses and did a complete system flush with over a quart of DOT 4, and all is well. Of course, we bench bleed the m/c before installation, and the flush was easy.

Duke

[Larry E.]

Re: What is the Manual Brake Pedal Floor Clearence Spec. For 66 Corvette

Duke>Thanks for the clarification on the "very little". I'm not completely sure if the Clevis & Nut on the brake pedal
rod is adjusted properly. How does one tell? Here is my problem> There is no leaks in the system-I'm satisfied with
the braking of the car-But I am not satisfied with the pedal travel-. No it does not go to the floor(maybe 2" from it)
Suggestions are needed. Thanks in advance. Larry P.S. Maybe I'm just too used of driving newer vehicles(Silverado)
that has power brakes

[Jim D.]

Re: What is the Manual Brake Pedal Floor Clearence Spec. For 66 Corvette

Larry, The A.I.M. has all the info. regarding pedal travel. My 65 has a 100% new brake system. My pedal has approx. 3/4" free play and total pedal movement from rest to standing hard on the pedal hard is 2" ( the A.I.M. states it should be a MAXIMUM of 2 3/4" with a 80 lb. load). I hope this helps.

[Duke W.]

Re: What is the Manual Brake Pedal Floor Clearence Spec. For 66 Corvette

Like Jim said, check the pedal pushrod to piston freeplay and adjust to minimum spec, and see if that works. I drove a friends '67 L-71 (manual brakes) on Saturday and the pedal was high and firm - just took more pedal force than a modern car.


Duke

[Larry E.]

Re: What is the Manual Brake Pedal Floor Clearence Spec. For 66 Corvette

OK; That's is where I will start>check the pedal pushrod to piston freeplay and adjust to minimum spec. Thanks to everybody>Larry

[Larry E.]

Re: What is the Manual Brake Pedal Floor Clearence Spec. For 66 Corvette

[QUOTE=Duke Williams (22045);856177]Like Jim said, check the pedal pushrod to piston freeplay and adjust to minimum spec, and see if that works. I drove a friends '67 L-71 (manual brakes) on Saturday and the pedal was high and firm - just took more pedal force than a modern car.

Duke>Update on the above. Went in there and adjusted the push rod(clevis pin) and works fine now. Pedal came up and now
I feel a lot better about it. Thanks for the advice. Larry