Ok, here's the low-down.

I took off the 300zx Brakes on my 4th Gen to have them re-powdercoated. I put the stock calipers, brackets, rotors, and lines back on. Now, I have speed bleeders and I went through almost a full 32oz container of brake fluid to bleed them. There are NO bubbles in the fluid coming from the front brakes. Even after bleeding the front brakes 3 times, the pedal is VERY squishy and has to be pressed down more than half way just to get some response from the brakes at all.

Now, I called my local shop and they said that I need to do a diagonal bleed. However, I did not have to do this before, so why would I have to now? How do I know if my calipers are shot? I drove the car for about 15 minutes and afterwards there was still rust on the pad-portion of the rotor, which should have worn off almost immediately after I started braking. Is this any clue to something? Thanks all.

 

Sounds like there is still some air in your brake system. Did you follow a certain pattern when you bled your system? If you have ABS, you may need to disconnect the actuator plugs before bleeding.

 

As you know I run the 300z calipers/cobra rotor setup. My 3-gen pedal feel is very good. I put on the ss lines at the same time. You didn't mention if you bled the rear brakes. That might be where the air is trapped. In general, you bleed from the furtherest caliper to the closest. So RR, LF, FR, FL.