Really the 289 V8 idea was really just a curosity. I do know the e brake cable starts to tighten up near the end of it's travle, the wheels do lock up but only after a fashion, I checked the cable and it does seem to have slack when engaged. I do think that the master cyl is bad, I checked the rubber and it looked good, there is 1 line that's questionable and I'm gonna have my dad check it. I do have another question, I noticed that the line that goes across the rear end had been replaced, due to breakage, I know that because the remains of the old are still there, if the person who replaced the line didn't bleed the system back out could it leed to a no pedal feel? I know it can leed to a soft pedal. Should I bleed the system out to see if I get pedal feel back? And braking power of course.