my brakes leak

My brakes pull to the right and my front left and rear left calipers are leaking. The rear leaks more than the front.
I have not yet looked in the fluid reservoir to check the fluid level. I tried to push the clip to open the reservoir but it seems to be stuck or rusted. How do I remove or loosen the metal clip without breaking it ? It does not move at all.
I am leaning towards Auto Zone parts, calipers, master cylinder and rubber lines. I hope the metal brake lines are good but if I have to replace the lines also I am leaning towards stainless lines.
Any help you can provide is greatly appreciated. Can you recommend parts from Auto Zone ? I sure would like to buy local and not pay shipping and core charge. Thank you.

Put a large flat screw driver under the bail and pry it open. I bought my brakes from Vette Brakes. I would recommend that you get SS sleeved with the O rings in them instead of the lip seals. Lips seals will leak if you don't use the car often. As far as the lines, replace all the rubber they are cheap and flush the rest of the lines out to remove all the old fluid. I replaced mine with SS and that was not cheap. I myself would not use AutoZone but that me. Vette Brake is not that bad in price for bran new Delco loaded calipers.

http://www.vbandp.com/SearchResult.aspx?CategoryID=330
Go to page seven.

Hope this Helps,

Danny

The lid is held in place with this metal strap, pry it towards the front of the car using a medium to large screwdriver.

Calipers:
I bought Auto Zone calipers and had to replace two under warranty. They have a lifetime warranty so if you don't mind the work you can get replacements every time something goes wrong...
I am going to "upgrade" my calipers to O-ring soon so that's the end of my lifetime warranty.

Stay away from Ebay rebuilders - buy from shops that have a good reputation if you want the O-ring calipers.

Have a look at your calipers, if they're stainless sleeved you can just disassemble, clean and install the O-ring kit in your calipers.

Wilwood has new calipers that are a stock replacement but $1500 for the set might be more than you want to spend.

Stainless brake lines from MidAmerica are under $200 for the entire car, they fit well.

Hope this helps.

Thank you so much. Finally I was able to open the lid on the master cylinder.It does not look good inside there is a mixture of brake fluid and rust. I am going to compare prices today, is $90 for a new master a good deal ? They also sell rebuilt master cylinders for $20 but I don't know about that.
Again, thank you very much.

I would be suspicious of the $20 master cylinder. There are lots of unscrupulous re-builders out there in the Corvette business. I think places like NAPA (and others) have a warranty.

Make sure you get the master made for your car. Not certain what year your car is but, there are differences in the power brake and manual brake masters as well as the year it was made.

Change it all. Calipers and M/C from NAPA, SS brake lines, and get a Motive pressure bleeder. Also check your rotor run out. Brakes are NOT the place to scrimp.

Allright. I bought a new master cylinder and four 12T stands at Auto Zone. They ordered two calipers from another store so I will pick up those four new calipers tomorrow.
I am only driving on the roads, no racing, just some weekend cruising. I am convinced that the stock setup is fine for what I am going to do with this car.

They did not have the rubber hoses so I will order those online together with the stainless lines.

I have to replace the distribution blocks and this valve too ? Do these wear ?

Nah, the dist blocks are typically brass, and not a source of troubles...make sure you front block is not leaking however....the switch that lights the lite inside the car....can leak....

with anything like stock calipers, you have to watch the rotor runout, especially in the rear....

I"m not a fan of the stock lip seals much less the backing springs...

Arthur Brown said:

Allright. I bought a new master cylinder and four 12T stands at Auto Zone. They ordered two calipers from another store so I will pick up those four new calipers tomorrow.
I am only driving on the roads, no racing, just some weekend cruising. I am convinced that the stock setup is fine for what I am going to do with this car.

They did not have the rubber hoses so I will order those online together with the stainless lines.

I have to replace the distribution blocks and this valve too ? Do these wear ?

Click to expand...

I would order the SS "flex lines". As for the hard lines, unless you live in the road salt, they are usually fine.
Distribution blocks do not wear, but they can corrode beyond salvage.

I removed the brake system, while I am waiting for the SS lines I am cleaning the frame and the rotors.
I have not thought about pads yet. From what I read on the net there's organic and semi metallic and ceramic. What does the forum recommend ?

Arthur Brown said:

I removed the brake system, while I am waiting for the SS lines I am cleaning the frame and the rotors.
I have not thought about pads yet. From what I read on the net there's organic and semi metallic and ceramic. What does the forum recommend ?

Click to expand...

What are you going to use the car for? For plain old daily driving, I find the cheapo pads that VB and P sells are adequate and give good wear with little dust.
If your going to race or autocross, the guys like the Hawk Blues.

big2bird said:

Arthur Brown said:

I removed the brake system, while I am waiting for the SS lines I am cleaning the frame and the rotors.
I have not thought about pads yet. From what I read on the net there's organic and semi metallic and ceramic. What does the forum recommend ?

Click to expand...

What are you going to use the car for? For plain old daily driving, I find the cheapo pads that VB and P sells are adequate and give good wear with little dust.
If your going to race or autocross, the guys like the Hawk Blues.

Click to expand...

When you buy something harder/longer lasting than stock cheep stuff, you get into increased rotor wear...shaving steel off them...you can see it easy on any car by the brake dust most typically in front..if it's black, it cool, that's pads wearing, if it's brown, it's rust from the steel being ground off the rotor...uncool...

surely the car stops better with longer lasting harder pad compounds...but if you not racing, you don't care...save your rotors....

don't ask (how I know this).....


:crap::crutches:

thank you - I have breaks

Finally I am done with these brakes It was not easy but with the help of VetteMod I was able to do it. Thank you all who have posted here and also thanks for the support and advice that I received via PM.

That's what it's all about here.:wink:

big2bird said:

That's what it's all about here.:wink:

Click to expand...

Exactly !

We're here to help if you have questions. Don't be afraid to ask :1st: