[Roadsters] Brakes

[Paul Kort]

> -----Original Message-----
>   On Behalf Of dave n
>
> I have always heard start with the farthest brake and work inward.  this is
> how I do it, but I am curious as to why this is.
>
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  With each pump of the pedal, you push new brake fluid down the line.  But
with each release of the pedal, the fluid decompresses and at little bit
flows back up the line.  If you started with the short line, a bit of the
old wet brake fluid would come back into the line above the split,
contaminating the fluid you are now going to compress into the next line.
By flushing the longest line first, you get most of the old stuff out.  And
then each lift and back flow is good clean new fluid.

  Or maybe it's because I learned to do it from dad at age 9 on a 1960 DKW
750 Junior, and we always did it that way right up through his 1990 Maxima,
his last car.  And as I remember it, when I asked dad why he did it that
way, he said because his dad taught him to do it that way.  Was good enough
for me!

  All this got me wondering about the whole process so I pulled two old
automotive service text books I have.  Both are Stockel manuals published
back in 1969.  They agree to start with the longest line, but do not
explain why.

  At the race barn, I always enjoyed bleeding the brakes.  Might be because
my tool of choice was a bag of Wise potato chips to munch on while I pumped
the brakes!

Paul
Ohio