Stock Front Suspension KYB Strut Cartridges

Started by weitrhino, 02:31:36 PM / 12-Aug-16

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Redneck

This thread is further reinforcement that if I upgrade my suspension down the road I'm just going to go the s13 route. When you need a pipe wrench to assemble your strut assembly you know shits getting way to serious lol.
Quote from: ka-tgazelle on 11:24:56 PM / 01-Jun-11 FIrst my rims are horrible, than there ok when painted black , now my cars horrible, now my fenders are to much after i was told i couldnt do it.... Lol club s12 ftw.....  Only here have Ive been told they look like shit..... SOrry its not bone stock with crown vic rims running the stock vg making 130whp and looks generic like every other one. My car looks dope ive been told this a billion times on local forums....


weitrhino

#21
More to the story.............


I ended up running new lines to both front brakes and simply cut the rear line at the master cylinder. All new steel fittings were used. I also managed to break two loaner flaring tools from the parts store. Brake line flaring is a bit of an art and I learned a lot from my mistakes but eventually I was able to make flares that looked as good as factory. If anyone is about to do this for the first time I'm happy to give a few pointers. Videos I watched were only partly good for education, the rest was learned by trial and error.

Anyway I got the new master in place and all linked up then called my eldest out to pump the pedal so I could bleed the system. Still no pressure at all and here's when I noticed the booster sounded like someone stomping a foot in a bucket of water. A small amount of brake fluid began leaking from the bottom of where the master and the booster meet. The dripping took some paint off the frame below.

Yup, the booster was full of brake fluid and apparently decided this was the time to cease functioning. The weird part is I never had to add any fluid over the last 2 years I've had the car. I alway suspected the master had been replaced, and I still believe it, but have now learned that if the seal inside the master fails it allows the booster to suck fluid back into itself. The previous owner evidently never replaced the booster like he should have when the master was replaced. When I got the booster out, here's what I found:




So now the booster has also been replaced and the whole system is installed and properly bled. The brakes feel very solid again.

kelso840

So you were right from the very beginning..... Sorry about that.

Does that mean that your booster has been full this whole time, and the PO must have put in enough fluid to fill it AND the booster over time? 
Infrequently driving an s12.

weitrhino

Quote from: kelso840 on 07:31:59 AM / 18-Sep-16
So you were right from the very beginning..... Sorry about that.

Does that mean that your booster has been full this whole time, and the PO must have put in enough fluid to fill it AND the booster over time?

Well the brakes worked fine all the while until after I finished the new steering rack and struts so it must be the PO simply replaced the master and filled the system without dealing with the booster at all.  I suppose I'm really lucky it decided to fail while I was working on it instead of when out on the road.

weitrhino

Finally did the rear shocks with a matching set of Gabriels. I hadn't realized how worn the OEM rear shocks had become but she sure feels planted now. My kingdom for stiffer springs!