Hey all,

So I pulled my whole brake system back apart, put the new calipers in the front, but after lots of bleeding, I get no air coming out, but the pedal feel is crappy. the master cylinder has been bled, all the corners have been bled, but there must be air in the line (I suspect the rear) and was wondering if there are any tricks to get it out.

I have a vacuum hand pump that I will try tomorrow, but thought i'd ask here.

BTW I now have some new cordoba calipers with adapters, pads and hoses for putting the 11.75" rotors on an A body. figured someone might like them if they would like to upgrade from the 10.75" setup.

Thanks in advance for your help. will post some pics tomorrow.

MJ

I PMed you about this stuff, 1st dibs
What kind of master cylinder do you have? Is it original? Or is it a rebuilt/remanufactured one? What kind of fluid are you using?

Other details:

new MP 1 1/32 Master cylinder, dot 3 fluid.

I am going to swap the MC to see if that makes a difference.

MJ

Bleeder screws on TOP of the caliper?? If no swap sides or you will NEVER get a pedal.

Sorry yes, I am using Wilwood Calipers with dual bleeders and they are both in the right place

MJ

MC not bled well enough??

Other thought would be pull the caliper loose from the spindle and hold it with bleeders straight up, shake/tap it, and then reinstall or at least put pads around disc (shake air pockets loose). Then try bleeding again. Calipers should not be hard to bleed here.

Pedal feel will likely be a bit softer than stock calipers. Is it spongy or what?

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

I have found Valvoline Synpower fluid easier to work with. It does not seem to hold small bubbles in suspension nearly as much as most of the normal DOT 3 fluids I have used. It is a DOT 3 and 4 fluid and I have it in old and new cars and it works great. You can get it just about anywhere and it is not too expensive.

Another thing to look into is a pressure bleeder. You can buy one that is basically a plant sprayer with a pressure gauge. They actually work pretty well, just use it quickly before the fluid absorbs much moisture. What is nice is that you can rattle the lines and calipers while the fluid is flowing to shake loose any bubbles.

That's my feeling after talking with Dan a little last night.
Thanks for this tip Lou, I'll definitely do that since I need to the put the teflon tape on anyway. The calipers seemed to bleed very fast and I didn't see any air bubbles at all. This is what led us to think it was in the rear line. However, thinking more about it last night, I think the MC is the likely culprit.

I am not getting pressure at the pedal all the time--we'd open the rear wheel up, the pedal would bleed down, and then not return unless I pumped it several times. While there may be some air still sitting in those lines, that seemed to suggest the MC as the likely culprit.

So I'm going to:
1. rebleed the MC
2. bleed the lines

hope that its good, if not

3. block off each circuit and see if I can isolate the trouble lines.

Thanks for the the help and suggestion on fluid. I will likely flush most of the Prestone out anyway so I'll get something different. Any other suggestions?

MJ

how about the prop valve? I've encountered air pockets in them. Had to break the seal at the p/v on each line and bleed it, Lawrence

The prop valve could be it. the feed line to it does run a little on the high side. might be trapping air there. re-bleeding the MC is a good idea though.

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64' Valiant Signet 5.9, 64' Dart 170 moredoor 3.7, 67' A100 3.7, 00' Dakota SLT 4.7

Have you consider leeches?

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Ed
64 Valiant 225 / 904 / 42:1 manual steering / 9" drum brakes

Hey Ed, why don't you drive your glass jar full of them up here, we can attach one at each corner, and see what happens. The combo of gravity and leeches may just be the trick =)

Hey Menko,
A few suggestions:

Open up your prop valve all the way.
Use a power bleeder. ( I have one I can lend you, if you can't find one up there)
Bleed in this order: passenger bleeder first, rear driver, front passenger, front driver.

Last idea: replace the bleeder screws with speed bleeders.

I used a combination of all of these tricks when I did my brake upgrade.

G

Thanks Greg, I will give it a try tomorrow night and see what happens and report back. I appreciate the feedback!

MJ

How about the bleed sequence. RR, LR, RF, LF in order. Bleed the fronts first and you'll be chasing an air bubble around.