the brakes on my 73 Vega car were completely rebuilt (new master cylinder, drums, wheel cylinders etc) it has a dual reservoir no brake booster master cylinder with disk brakes in the front and drums in the back. i have tried to bleed the brakes in the correct order and bench bled the master cylinder but still no pedal pressure. out of ideas so anything will help.
No brake booster? Your not going to like the way it stops, in fact you will be hard pressed to make it stop. But that isn't the question. Have someone if you can't do it push slowly down on the pedal as you look into the reservoir, do you see little bubbles coming up? If so you will need to bleed the master again. That has to be done before you can do any of the wheels. Start your bleeding at the left front then the right on the rear do the left rear first. You can use the lazy way and just open the bleeder screw and wait for the fluid to come out if you want. There are people that will tell you this is wrong but it is not, it is the only way you can be sure there is no air trapped in between the two calipers or cylinders.
You have air in the system, get a helper to pump the pedal. Put a clear tube on the bleeder and the other end in a clear bottle with some fluid in it so you can see the bubbles come out. open the bleeder and have the helper push the pedal down slow and steady and hold it down, close the bleeder before they let off the pedal so it doesn't keep sucking the air back in. Repeat until it squirts 3-4 times with no air bubbles. OR, get a power bleeder.
loosen the bleeder on one wheel, then attach a piece of tubing which fits snugly on it and is long enuf to go into a jar ( I use a clear mason jar so I can see the fluid). put enough brake fluid in the jar so the tube is in the fluid. Now pump the brakes slowly while keeping the master cylinder full. The jar of fluid will prevent air from being sucked back on the upstroke. the fluid acts as a check valve. Do this till no more bubbles come out, then go to the next wheel. I use this method so that I dont need a helper, and it doesn't make a mess. Works every time.
