89 N/A 4 piston calipers, vented rears. My brakes suck, so I've decided to do a complete brake system restoration and would like everyones experience & input.

Parts I have accumulated, pads, rotors, Russell speed bleeders, caliper rebuild kits, SS brakelines, MC rebuild kit, CAstrol LMA brake fluid.

anything I've missed? anything special I need to know about our brake systems?

best way to test the effectiveness of the brake booster?

anyone install a brake balance adjuster? was thinking about it and now would be the time.

can the dust guards be taken off? consequences & repercussions?

Best way to complete drain the old fluid?

anything else I should change while I'm in there?

 

brake booster is easy to check, if it does not hold vacuum its bad.

 

If you pull the vac line from the booster- not from the vac hardline, but from the booster itself- you should hear a bit of a pop as the vacuum is lost.
You hear that, the booster is good.

Assuming you are street driving, an adjustable prop valve isn't necessary.
If you took the time to dial one in, it wouldn't hurt but it's hard to see the benefit.

By the time you've rebuilt the calipers and MC, the only old fluid left will be that in the hardlines and it will be quickly evacuated during the bleed process.
In other words, don't even worry about "old" fluid, there won't be any.

There is nothing exotic about our brakes unless you haven't run into the "screw-in" rear caliper pistons before.

You seem to have all the bases pretty well covered parts-wise, about the only things left might be new pad pins (which may or may not be needed).

Now would be the time to refinish the calipers to tart them up, should you be so inclined.
Do this before the rebuild.
Leave the old bleed screws and hoses (rear)/hardline (front) in place- consider them sacrificial. Cover the open ends.
Press in the pistons to evacuate the old fluid.
Blast the caliper bodies (having covered the rear caliper slide pins)...fine grit sand works fine.
Paint the bodies using a high temp enamel, allow to fully cure (low heat oven for a few hours, then air dry to cool).
Then rebuild.

 

Very rarely street driven, track driven... mainly auto-x... you got an adjustable brake proportioning valve? any idea where to get one?

You mean the pad springs?(hardware)

 

No, I'm a street squid.
My brake setup detailed here.
Black91n/a might be able to advise about an adjustable valve...by his own admission, he "knows what he's doing".



N, I mean the pins the front caliper hangs the pads on.