You may have made the rear adjusters turn up a few clicks. Now go see that
the rear brakes are actually set up correctly including the contact pattern
with the drums. Many after-market shoes have the wrong lower shoe arm length
and the lower shoe rests need to be shimmed out to compensate. I have added
as much as 3-4mm to each rest even with new drums. Be sure the handbrake
cable is properly adjusted, no pressure on the top bar when released. And
als make sure the top springs are not upside down.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Dick Wong
Sent: Monday, July 6, 2015 12:55 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Brakes on an 87 Syncro

So I think I've read threads here about brake pedal height, before and after
bleeding and after replacing master cylinders, etc.

My 87 is still relatively new to me, I have no idea what pads, rotors, shoes
and drums are on it.  I recently rebuilt the front calipers (no pad change),
stainless braid all around, adjusted the rear drums and installed a new
master brake cylinder.  Everything seems normal and my new brake pedal
height is the same as with the old M/C after pump-up.  Then I read a thread
somewhere that said the driver could lock up their front wheels in a panic
stop.  I decided to try this: 1. To see how the van would handle in this
situation, 2. To see if I could get my brakes to lock up, and 3. Get an idea
of the stopping distance I may need in a "situation".  I only did this in
town with a top speed of around 35MPH.

I could not get any of the wheels to lock up, but after the second try, I
realized that it would never happen on dry pavement since all four wheels
are coupled together in the Syncro system (the previous statement must have
been with a 2WD).  The handling was straight and true with no side to side
pulling, and the nose diving was not as severe as I thought it would be.
All the while, learning what type of distances I need to make a stop.

Thanks for sticking with me to this point.

So here is my observation after a few hard stops.  The brake pedal now has
resistance sooner, i.e., the pedal is a bit higher for a regular stop.  How
much, I can't really say, but it definitely feels higher and BETTER
(slightly less mushiness).

So what do you think happened here?

-Dick Wong-
78 Scirocco
Original Owner
87 Vanagon GL Syncro 2.5 (Blaze)
Third Owner
12 Golf TDI
Original Co-Owner