I have a 1972 fiat 127,my brakes are new.
When I apply brakes the pedal is low,not to the floor but low.
I had them professionally bled ,but still about the same.
Is that normal?
If not ,any suggestions will be great.
The car always stops perfect.
If everything else is good, then a common issue on Fiats with drum brakes at rear, is self adjusters not holding the shoes near enough to the brake drums.
A quick test by seeing if brake pedal feels better when parked with handbrake on, after trying the pedal a couple of times.
If this is the case, then genuine Fiat or good quality brakes shoes with the stronger friction pads and springs fitted to the shoes is probably the answer.
A cheat is to weaken the main brake shoe return springs so that they are less likely to pull the brake shoes away from brake drum contact area by overcoming the self adjusters.
Something I used to do is manually adjust the brake shoes by pushing them outwards using a screwdriver so just touching the brake drum when slide on, then once bolted up and all inline, I would give a "gentle" tap using a copper mallet to the brake drum which was sufficient to square up the brake shoes so no brake binding, but still left them in close contact with the brake drum, thereby improving/reducing brake pedal travel.
Another way to prove the issue is with rear brakes , is to carefully fit a pair of brake hose clamps to the rear flexible hoses and see if brake pedal is improved, as a test.
Yet another point worth considering , is if all brakes are new the pedal travel will improve with use once the brake shoes and front brake pads have worn in a little to match their contact areas.
There are plenty of other reasons why brakes on any vehicle can be poor, so feel free to comeback for other suggestions, it is just the rear brake shoe self adjusters has always been a common issue on Fiats of that era.
