Definitely what Bill says here, while you've got it in the air check and free up the front caliper slides to be sure the calipers are freely centering on the rotors. - Bill W

If you don't have them already get a GOOD set of line wrenches and for that year, they may well be metric. Be patient with the line nuts and work the wrench slowly but firmly. Those nuts round off all too easily.

And remember, if you use any heat on them, be careful because the fluid inside the hoses can cause the hoses to explode. Good luck, and stay tuned with your progress. Bill

I would replace the rubber line that feeds the rears at the T fitting (typically is one) at the rear axle area.

OK, so I replaced each rear wheel cylinder, both brake lines across the rear axle, the flex line at the rear end, adjust the drum to shoe clearance and rebleed the brakes.

We have way better brakes - but it does not lock up like i believe it should. Maybe im expecting too much - or at this point maybe i have some front brake issues. Clearly the car nose dives with brake pressure, the proportioning valve seems to be working well - based on the bleeding process.

I'll drive it for a week of so and see if i get a different feel. I did notice that i had some small brake fluid residue on the passenger side brake cylinder.

So will give it a few miles and see if im happy enough. Swapping out the parts was very inexpensive way to go.

BTW - Old flexible hose seemed to be in good shape . Lets see....

Thank you all for the comments and direction.

A couple of things to check:
After a few test stops, does it start to pull to one side or dogleg?
Have you checked the brake temps with an IR temp gun?
You mentioned that you had to force fluid out for the rears? You probably have a failed rear brake hose at the axle. Those internally fail. I would replace.
How long has it been sitting before you started this project?

Well that's a good thing. Just remember the rear shoes and drums have not been applying correctly for a long tine due to the frozen wheel cylinders so I would start by resurfacing the drums to deglaze them and replace the rear shoe set and spring / hardware kit (cheap fix). That is a better fix than re-using the old, glazed shoes.

Once again as far as the brake hose issue goes, I have only seen an internally failed hose cause a brake to not release the fluid or at minimum restrict the flow causing a pull to one side or the other. Remember it's only original once. Look at what an original pair of red striped brake hoses for a 1969 Camaro are going for today. Who knows, your 20,000 mile 1987 El Camino could be a future 1969 Camaro as far as collectability down the road.

One has to be methodical with diagnosing issues with vehicles. Like Snap On tools moto was back in the day "TEST, DON'T GUESS"

Bill

answer to the questions above:
1. no pulling what so ever - nice and straight
2. did not check brake temps
3. replaced all the lines (1 hose with t fitting and the 2 metal lines) + wheel cylinders
4. its an 87 and has 20K orig miles on it - so obviously sparingly driven prior to me. i put 300 miles in this yr.

BB Bill - agree with you, i think I'll go ahead and order up some new shoes and hardware kit and have the drums resurfaced. At this point everything has been refurbished on the rear section eliminating this before looking at the front stuff.

----Wow, that's a great looking El Camino! Makes me wish I had never sold my 86 as I really liked it. Proir owner to me kindly installed a ZZ3 in it, so it delt with the one thing I have never much cared for, lack of power.

thank you...i looked for a yr before buying these wheels - and moved up from the 14 inch stock wheels to these 17 inch. I worried it would be too big a wheel, but not.