Last night I bench bled and installed a reman master cylinder on my RT (discs & drums). The pedal "dangles" (swings freely) and activates the rear brake light switch...so, I unplugged it. I haven't started the car yet and am curious if this will cure the pedal pressure I am lacking? Then I will bleed all the brakes. Am I on the right path? Suggestions? Thanks. TC

I am guessing it is power based on your question about starting the car?
would have thought manual since it is an RT.

but regardless, you probably pulled the pedal back and moved the switch, or you need a spring to pull the pedal all the way back to engage the switch.

a power car will not pump up the pedal when you start the car.

If you bench bled it then it dangling sounds like a problem...Are you sure when you put the master back in that the pushrod was in the booster and it was making contact with the hydraulic piston in the master? You should encounter some resistance. Not to be smart or anything...but after you hooked it up to the booster...you didnt pump the brakes did you? You would have spit out fluid and sucked in air if the lines weren't installed.

AFAIK, there is a spring pulling the brake pedal back in to the raised position.

I hooked the lines up to avoid a mess and did have some resistance while bolting it on with the piston end properly in the back of the mc. I am curious about that spring now as I did shine a light up there and was wondering if I had to re-adjust anything? Will inspect the spring in the morning, Thanks all! TC

The spring is in the master cyl and you won't see it, but it should return the pedal whether power brakes or not.

Did you change the push rod length? Provided the master is returning properly, it sounds like the push rod is too short.

I did not change the pushrod. I noticed the acorn nut looking tip. Should I extend it if possible? Thanks. TC

you still have to bleed the system reguardless...

yes you want to extend the acorn nut so the nub is just shy of contacting the bottom of the M/C piston recess. Your new M/C may very well have a deeper recess than the one it replaced

I won't drive it without bleeding the system. Thanks. TC