<VV> Brakes pulling right and no light

[Michael Kovacs]

Is the steering wheel also turning to the right? If so, the problem may be in the right front. If the steering wheel does not turn to the right it may be the back brakes that grab giving a swerving effect. My system is to take the car on some back street with NO TRAFFIC and try a panic stop at about 15 miles an hour. The rubber marks will usually tell which brake is grabbing.

 Check the brake light switch, That is the easiest. 
 MIKE KOVACS 



----- Original Message ----
From: Stephen Upham <contactsmu at sbcglobal.net>
To: Virtual Vairs <virtualvairs at corvair.org>
Sent: Sunday, August 2, 2009 2:14:04 AM
Subject: <VV> Brakes pulling right and no light

    Tested the brakes on the way to the NTCA meeting today.  The car is  
veering to the right when the brakes are applied.  Of course, to my  
layman mind, this means that the right front brake is stopping the  
car better than the left front brake.  This may be the result of my  
replacing only the left shoes last summer when I had the leaking  
wheel cylinder.  Forgot that it is highly recommended to replace  
shoes in pairs.  Even doing that, the car did not pull as bad as it  
is now.  The left shoes only have about 500 miles on them, remember  
that the car had been in group red for ten of the last twelve months  
with the wiring harness issue.  When I put on the new springs, I  
installed the set of shoes that were still in the box (from the set  
that I used on the left side), on the right side.  Anyway, is there a  
way to adjust the brakes to grab at the same pressure using the self  
adjusting "star" wheel, or am I looking at yet another new set of  
shoes up front?  One club member who is widely respected nationally  
in the Corvair community said that would probably be the only way to  
solve the problem.
    But hang on it gets better, and by that I really mean worse.  When  
I was leaving the meeting, a fellow member called out to me at a stop  
light.  It turned out that I did not have any brake lights!!  I  
looked at the switch on the pedal and the arm does allow the switch  
button to come all the way out (separated from contact with the  
switch), the fuse is ok, and at least the parking lights do work.  It  
would seem unlikely that both brake light filaments would tank at the  
same time.  I did notice after reading in the manual that the  
clearance between the pedal arm and the stop needs to be adjusted as  
the arm is resting on the stop.  Don't know if this would/could cause  
this symptom.  I loosened the securing nut, but I was apprehensive to  
turn the bolt that goes though the tuning fork shaped attachment, the  
part with the ridges but no nut for a wrench, because it looks like I  
could screw up something inside of the rubber casing it goes into  
that is located on the firewall.  Probably not, but given all that I  
have gone through and what little I know, I ALWAYS ask first and  
usually wait for at least two confirmations before proceeding.  Sorry  
so long, but more information is better than less.

Stephen Upham
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