Astra mk3 brakes lousy

[dieselhead]

The brakes on this newly acquired astra work well enough for ordinary driving but when you go to do an emergency stop the pedal feels like it is hitting a mechanical stop and the braking effort isn't as good as it should be.
I got my father to test drive it yesterday and he agreed there was something wrong. He said if the car was very heavily laden and you were driving down the motorway at 80mph and had to stop suddenly he doubted if there would be enough braking force.

Notes: the servo appears to be working
The car pulls straight under heavy braking
The handbrake seems to only be working on one wheel (ns)
1997 1.4 ecotec automatic 75k
no abs

What is this mechanical 'stop' I can feel? Could it be a fault with the master cyclinder?
Where should I start with diagnosis?
My father suggested removing each wheel in turn, checking the caliper/cylinder for leaks, bleeding each one and flushing thru some fresh fluid. The fluid in the res looks quite clean and light colored.
Thanks
Ben

 

[Belle427]

i would definately get it stripped down and checked out,for the cost of some new pads/shoes and fresh brake fluid its not worth thinking about,maybe a rear cylinder has packed up(if it has drums)