As the Title describes I just had to replace the brake master cylinder as it had an internal leak. Had my father helping me, We did the bench bleed on the master, but never did really get all the air out of the system before reinstalling it. We bled the three required corners. The brakes kind of work now except the pedal drop much further then before, before actually braking. Wondering if i should try to bench bled the master again or if i need to adjust something. Its an early 81 first gen.

 

since you already have it on the car and have used it, i think it would make the most sense to leave it on and go to each corner thoroughly, get some fluid and bleed it.

 

Bench bleeding just makes bleeding in the car go faster. If you remove the master to bench bleed you will be back at square one. I'm gessing you have drum rears as you're referring to only bleeding three corners. Personally when I open my brake system I bleed it then bleed it again after driving a little. I would suggest bleeding it again to ensure all the air is out of the system. Also, since you have drums the shoe adjustment has a lot to do with pedal height do just make sure they are good.

 

It doesnt feel like air in the system as the pedal is soft with no braking until about halfway down. then it gets rock hard with lots of braking. and yes i have drum backs and shoe fronts. so should i just continue to bleed the system and pray i get a pocket of air?

 

Two things going on here:

1. Drum brakes probably need to be adjusted and readjusted every 5K miles or so. Don't trust the
auto adjusters, they usually bind up after awhile. Drums being worn or out of adjustment really
contributes a lot to the pedal feel.

2. Its takes a lot of bleeding to get the air out of the rear since you are bleeding the longest path
there. In general it takes about 1/2 a bottle of fluid to do it well.

 

welp went out today decided to jack up the back right and start bleeding it, since it was the longest distance i figured if i did miss any air pockets it was there. And behold managed to get out a massive pocket of air. Brakes feel nice and hard again. thank you guys for the help. Really appreciate it.

 

Congrats man! Persistence is key with these old beasts.