brake rebuild

[ROVP]

I recently replaced all wheel cylinders, brake lines and master cylinder in my 1975 bug (now a dune buggy).  I then blead the brakes all around and adjusted the shoes with the star wheels.  I have rechecked all fittings for leaks and filled reservoir with new brake fluid.
I cannot seem to get any pressure on the front brakes and very little on the back.  I jacked the front end up and can spin both front wheels while the brake is depressed.  I was told by a somewhat reliable source that the master cylinder could be bad from the factory.  Have you ever heard of that, and am I forgetting some simple step that could alleviate my issue? thanks
Dave from St Pete...

[Rick G]

Here is a site that has great info on bleeding and adjusting brakes

http://www.vw-resource.com/bleed2.html

Is it a single or dual master cylinder?

Are you using 2 people or a one man bleeder. I had much better luck when I convince my wife to come out to the shop and help. One man bleeder kit works great on my GM cars but for some reason is not real effective on bug. It doesn't make sense to me, but it is true.

Are you getting any pedal at all, if so is it firm or spongy, hi or low?

Do you have the corerct freeplay in the pedal? These cars seem touchy about that.

I had an awfull time getting a decent brake pedal after replacing the master. There are differing opinions on bench bleeding, but did you bench bleed it?

Mine would stop but the pedal felt like you were stepping on one of Rosie O'Donnell's chins or something similar. After running almost a quart of fluid though it, bench bleeding a second time, and then bleeding andd then bleeding some more it started getting better.

It is possible you have a bad Master those things are known to happen.

[VIN]

there was an awesome bleeding procedure on here that buggyman and a few others cobbled together, cant seem to find it.  can i ask where you got the wheel cylinders?  the master could be bad from the factory.   im assuming you have a dual circuit master cylinder, being a 75, so try bleeding the fronts first just to get some kind of a firm pedal.  dont use a vacuum bleeder, it wont work with vw wheel cyl.  im with rick on the 2 man ol fashioned pump and hold method.  seems to wrok the best,

[buggyman]

 
"awesome bleeding procedure on here that buggyman and a few others cobbled together, cant seem to find it."
Thinking that you're thinking of a shoe adjustment procedure VIN :
Click on my name & pick "Show the last posts of this person" in my profile,page 13 .

"Tip!  ,back off alll the adjusters alll the way,step on the brake pedal to center them,count exactly 5 clicks/adjuster tighter,step on the pedal to center them,keep tightening all the adjusters equally in ever decreasing increments-3-2-1 clicks at a time,each time stepping on the pedal to recenter them until they all equally lock(don't need to have a wheel on when doing this,it's like card counting at Vegas  ).
Back off each(4)rear adjusters a click or 2 until they barely rub(a soft,consistent drag is best,if it goes shh-shh,gotta replace or have the drums turned,they're outa round),press the pedal to recenter.
Go to the fronts and do the same procedure but loosen them 1 click more than you counted on the rears,that preferences the rears to catch 1st to help avoid the nosedive,you'll feel more like you're getting pulled down from behind when you stomp on the pedal.
After a couple of test drives and stops,repeat the adjustment equally from side to side no more than 1 click at a time  ."
from
http://www.chircoestore.com/catalog/smf/index.php?topic=3988.msg23721#msg23721

That assumes that you already have proper pressurization in the system so the more appropriate vw-resource link Rick would probably be http://www.vw-resource.com/pressure.html  .

I found it best to build backwards from set-in-stone brake assemblies at each wheel-then the lines back to the master-then from the master to the reservoir,never had to bench bleed if all those were set in stone .

ROVP :
How much brake pedal play do you have?,the master won't bleed at all unless you leave at least some pedal freeplay for it to fully return .
"brake lines"..."I have rechecked all fittings for leaks"
Did you replace the feed lines from the reservoir to the master?,if they aren't rock solid it's possible for air to enter the master on a pedal push but show no fluid to leak out upon pedal release since that's a no pressure gravity feed .
Is the reservoir cap vented? .

Verify all those as good & you're left with a folded back or damaged/torn during assembly piston cup(s) in the master kinda moving fluid around within the system while never creating actual pressurization in either circuit.
Eliminating what is absolutely not wrong points you directly to what is .