You know what every mechanically inclined person hates??

[8v-of-fury]

Brake Jobs. 

I totally am pro at mk1 drum brakes now. lol

I replaced axle to drum hard lines, cylinders, shoes and hardware. Bled them and voila brakes! however they are not as powerful as they should be. I think the remedy would be to bleed the fronts as well to eliminate any air in the system, as it is all one line.. one air bubble will cause them too all go soft right?

Question being, how do i loosen the front bleeder screws without destroying them and having to get new calipers? I have heard a few things.. like torching around the screw to expand the surrounding metal, but not too much heat so i don't fry the caliper seals. then going a bit forward on the screws, then a little more heat.. then backing them out.

thanks a lot guys.. Your expertise is greatly appreciated

[truckinwagen]

heat the bleeder screw until it is red and then give it a sharp tap on the end with a hammer.
let it cool and than repeat.

the bleeder will most likely need to be replaced at this point(should replace them anyway, with lots of anti-seize), but it should come out without too much issue.

[burn_your_money]

As long as your calipers have brake fluid in them you don't need to worry about overheating the bleeder

[fatmobile]

I spray PB blaster inside the bleeders to get it soaking from the inside.
 I smack the area the bleeder screws into, trying to disshape the metal around it briefly to break corrosion.
 I don't smack on the end of the bleeder very hard, it can make the bleeder weak where the threaded/hollow section meets the caliper.
 I put a cut off allen wrench inside the bleeder hole and smack on that, putting the pressure at the bottom of the hole and getting it to the lower threads.

[8v-of-fury]

you know what i was thinking.. if the wheel cylinders started to leak.. and i caught it before i drained the master.. should there even be any air in the front brakes? I only had to bleed a couple pumps to get a solid stream from each of the cylinders...

maybe there is another issue?

[anto]

Re loosening seized bleed screws/bolts etc

A sharp hit with a hammer and blunt chisel will usually free it along with some wd40/ penetrating fluid.
Dont beat the life out of it though!!!!

[745 turbogreasel]

you know what i was thinking.. if the wheel cylinders started to leak.. and i caught it before i drained the master.. should there even be any air in the front brakes? I only had to bleed a couple pumps to get a solid stream from each of the cylinders...

maybe there is another issue?

Correct...did you adjust the rear shoes?

[8v-of-fury]

adjust the rear shoes in the form of backing up an abruptly hitting the brakes?

I was up there today and i was driving it around on the logging roads for about two hours.. its not as peppy as my 1.7 but its pretty good for an N/a diesel lol. However the brakes were harder to push, if u did push them like they were manual brakes it would bring it self to a stop from 70mph in a short time. Why would this be?

[burn_your_money]

Are your rotors rusty?

[745 turbogreasel]

Self adjusters are the worst part of modern braking systems, and haven't progressed since the 60's.
To work, they need to be clean, complete, and not seized. (visual inspection, a bit of manual fiddling, and maybe a spot of syn grease)
Adding to this, most will not function unless they are in range(pretty close to ajusted).
Your adjuster should be parking brake actuated.

First, spin the starwheels on these http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180266343779&crlp=1_263602_263622&ff4=263602_263622&viewitem=&guid=324e89dc1250a02682675ca7ffae5e25&rvr_id=&ua=WXF%3F&itemid=180266343779  till there is some drag on the brake, step on the pedal to center the shoes, check for drag, repeat till you do have drag.  Back off 3 clicks or so.  (also check that the cliker works freely.

More detail here if this makes no sense: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=382823

[burn_your_money]

Are you sure a 84 will have that style of adjuster? I've never seen that one before. I'm familiar with the wedge attached to a spring that you can't access with the drum installed.

[8v-of-fury]

rotors have a little bit of rust on them.. but I was driving them clean today lol

Um yes it has the sliding wedge with the spring attaching it to the bottom of one of the shoes.

The car is now parked for winter I will resume work in the spring.. sadly I did not get it ready for winter.. All that work for nothing too eh?

[burn_your_money]

The car is now parked for winter I will resume work in the spring.. sadly I did not get it ready for winter.. All that work for nothing too eh?

I'm confused It hasn't snowed yet has it... has it?? 

[8v-of-fury]

We up here are/were in a severe snow storm watch

Girlfriend's mom needs it parked in a certain spot for snow removal purposes of her driveway.. and i wont be able to get the car there if 15cm's drop over the next week when i have no time to work on it it breaks my heart.

[burn_your_money]

You could give it to me. I'll fix it all up and drive it around and stuff. You know, show it a good time. I might even take some pictures and post them for you to see