Hey everyone. Got stuck or suckered into buying this 74 scamp. Already have way more money in it than it will ever bring. But recently have had some serious brake issues that are even shaking the steering wheel of this thing! I'm so out of hope and
so frustrated I want to drive this bucket right off a cliff.

Anyone that has some brake experience with a Plymouth Valiant? Scamp? Duster? Or any vehicle using a proportioning valve due to factory disk on front and drum on back...Please contact me, reply. I will seriously pay for this solution! I'm exhausted and
an entire week wasted so far on just brakes.

It will be good to meet new people and get to know you. Thank you!

I did put a post down in general so not sure if anyone can see it or not. Having trouble with the new forum, passwords, signing in from Facebook, then having to relist my issue 3 different times due to using a facebook sign up.
Signed...Old, Tired., Broke and Frustrated to the point of Desperate.

Here it is. Needs everything. The guy before was going to create a drag car...with a 318? Really? Guess he was not planning on going that fast. Just go to the track and hang out I suppose.

Rick Bell

 

Rick -

You'd be surprised what a worked 318 can do in a light car.

Proportioning valves with disk/drum combos were pretty standard fare back then.
Can you be a little more specific about what the brake problem is?

Archer

 

Does it pull when you let go of steering wheel, light force or high force.

 

Hi.

The brakes appear to make the wheels so hot that they seem to become loose on the lugs. Unless I have already over torqued them. From being under the car changing calipers and pads. So hot that you cannot touch the wheel at all without getting burned.
With the new valve, the brakes would not even bleed correctly. Valve not letting the fluid to front brake calipers.

My first issue was the brakes felt funny after bleeding them. Felt like I had left some air in the lines. But the brakes worked. So I drove it down the highway and suddenly the front wheels felt as if they were coming off. I pulled over and tightened the lugs even tigher
then they originally needed to be. That kept the steering wheel from shaking some. On the way back.

When I got back you could not touch the wheel or leave your hand on it. It would have given you third-degree burns in five seconds.

So the issue is when the brakes are working. The front wheels heat up like they are on fire. Checked bearings, spindles, rotors. Nothing amiss. When I remove the brake line on the front brakes the wheels run true and stay cool to the tough.

Never had this issue and I've worked as a mechanic before. So I'm going to change the rotors, bearings, and pads next to see if something will work.

The big thing is when I bought the car the guy said he had just replaced booster, master, rotors, proportioning valve, calipers, pads. And they all looked brand new. But booster had some missing inside parts as it would not hold vacuum. So I replaced it instead of sending it
to a rebuild shop and paying $`150 plus shipping back and forth.

The aftermarket booster caused me to have to reset linkage and all. Booster pushrod to the master, floor pedal, mounting, etc.. But I got it all reset and to where brakes worked as before. Other than the wheels feeling as they are coming off at 70 mph once they heat up. Takes about 10 miles and some braking on off and on ramps to freeway. As you know they don't make parts for these cars any longer.

I took the new valve back off, since I could not get fluid through the calipers. I could get good pressure during bench bleeding the master while in car. But once I hooked the line to the booster and ran fluid through it, I could not get it to go through valve.

So I put the old valve back on but before doing so I cut the spring inside for the front brakes. That allowed me to finally bleed the brakes correctly. Got the air out and took it for a spin again.

This time it didn't get quite as hot. Probably due to some air being in lines. But the rotors did get hot, and before I made it back the steering wheel wobbled and vibrated and felt like both front tires were out of balance or lose on the lugs. I tried to tighten them but they were seriously tight. So whatever is causing the steering to shimmy shake and shudder when rotors get hot, is not the wheel where it is connected to the lugs.

Now I have brakes. If I wanted to just drive around in the city there would be no issue. Short drives everything is fine. Brakes work. Rotors do not get hot and thus the steering does not shudder or shake and the rotors do not get hot.

Again, with the front brake line disconnected, the wheel, the bearings, the rotors, everything runs smooth and cool. No issue. Difficult to feel safe with no front brakes, however.
Have you ever heard of a disk brake pad causing wheels to shake? Like out of balance...So much so that you have to hold the steering wheel with both hands to keep it on the road? The shaking gets violent if you keep going. So when it starts now even a little I start pulling over.
Once you pull over and let things cool down the steering is okay for a while. Only when it gets hot does it turn chaotic!

Hope this helps. Same thing I said in the other post, however.

I will send the new valve back to eBay. As I have the mechanic willing to verify that he thinks that was the problem with not being able to bleed the front and charging me $140 to have no brake at all. I drove it home using the EBrake. AS it did have brakes when I drove it to his shop.

They just felt spongy. But I didn't stay on the freeway long enough for them to overheat. So no vibration or shaking.

Oh, by the way, I retightened the spindle nut as well during all this, but it did not change anything. AS I said before. When wheels are cool, there is no problem. Now that I have pressure to all four tires it stops fine. It even seems like it is level when I stomp on the brake. Does not nose dive or
lock up rear tires. Perfect.

Other than the heating up and then chaos. But no brakes in front...If I remove the line...I have a perfectly smooth ride...and no heat. It is only when I have the brakes working and bled that the car goes into hell mode once those damn rotors get hot. People who I've talked to say the Pistons could be sticking and not letting the fluid return. But I put on a new pair of remained calipers. Still getting hot for some reason. I didn't, however, change the brake shoes.

On those, I talked to others about the size to make sure I had the right pads. The measure in thickness exactly like the new ones they sell for that car. Identical.

Today I went to summit racing and bought drilled and slotted rotors. Purchased new pads from AutoZone, and new bearings from Oreily's auto. Tomorrow when the pads get here I will install these parts. The things is at that point I will have replaced everything but the lines for the brakes. Which happen to be clear and fluid runs fast through them when bleeding.

So not sure what the problem is. If these parts fix it, I would say it is a pad problem. Since that is the only thing left that has to do with brakes that weren't changed. But my god how would a brake pad cause a steering wheel to shimmy and vibrate like mad?

Things are working perfectly well until stuff gets hot. And I"ve hard rotors do not warp. They are too massive and would need more heat than brakes could ever put on them. What I"ve heard anyway. And changing them after all. I don't know what else to do as nothing makes sense on this car.

The car has a 318 and has been rebuilt. First time starting it was when I purchased the car. Had to hotwire the motor since the guy that had it before me had put in an MSD electrical system and it would not work with the factory wiring for some reason. Another story.
My only issue with performance is the secondaries don't open on the QuickFire Double Pumping 650. It is running I guess on 320 cfm? Cannot get them to open no matter what I try. Yes, another story.

I've never had any of these type problems with any of my fords or chevies. None. Only this one car out of about 40 cars I've owned. This one is sucking buddy and a real pos if I've ever heard of one. I got to live with it I suppose.
Thanks for reading all this. Sorry it was so long.

Rick

 

Long is good, very comprehensive. You haven't missed a thing that I can think of. Disregard my previous post about the pulling, obvious it's rubbing pads for some reason.

 

You have this topic in several threads and this is probably the most thuro, in the future please post it once and give us a chance to respond.
Thanks

 

Hi,

Thanks. I did not really understand how the forum worked. And was just trying to get my problem to the attention of members. I was not sure I ever got it on display so I tried a few different things.

Thanks, I will do as you suggest next time I have an issue.

Rick

Ps. also using quick reply. So I see all my answers in a long column now, But am not sure they go out to each person or if this ends up in a group conversation. Don't know, but I would have liked to just respond to those asking me questions And not to the entire forum.

Thank you for your help.