[Spridgets] bleeding the brakes

Andy Webster a_d_webster at yahoo.com.au
Sun Jul 6 00:22:02 MDT 2008


Greetings.
My sprite had been suffering that sinking pedal feeling..on the brakes and
clutch.
so, i just put a new seal kit through my tandem master cylinder. I did it a
bit half-arsed in that i left the MC in the car and did not hone out the
bores. I only rinsed them out with clean fluid from a syringe, wiped the
insides with a clean cloth and then reassembled, carefully noting the position
and orientation of the 'residual valve' (which looked different to the old
one)

Clutch bleeding (amazingly) went quite well. (I have a datsun 5speed box,
which I reckon has slightly better access to the slave.) I used a big 60mL
syringe and a length of clear hose like fish tank air hose to suck the fluid
through.

I used the syringe on the brakes too but it seems that when you use suction,
air will seep bast the bleeder valve threads and ito the stream, so you cant
tell if its air from in the system or from outside....anyway...
Bleed bleed bleed my way through almost a litre of fluid, using assorted
lengths of 2x4 to jam in between the pedal and any convenient anchor point to
hold pedal pressure while i open/shut the bleed nipples.
Eventually I grabbed a passing neighbour and enlisted him to push the brake
pedal while i ran around from wheel to wheel in the specified LR RR LF RF
sequence.

No more air coming out...but still a spongy feel to the brake pedal.

A quick search of the autox archive says I should leave the car sit for a few
days now and let some magical elves finish the job... I assume this means that
the remaining air will dissolve into the brake fluid if given time.
Car stops OK, just the pedal travels further than I am used to or am
comfortable with.

Does anyone have any other tips?...not including bench bleeding the MC, which
i am not game to try and undo the pipes to (because I am almost guaranteed to
round off the nuts and destroy them)


Andy



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