Brake Bleeding Question - NJFBOA - Home of New Jersey's Camaros and Firebirds

NJSPEEDER · 12-23-2006, 05:28 PM

i was looking into freshening my brakes this winter and the more research i do the more it seems to make sense to just replace all of the 30+ year old components instead of jsut a few.
i was wondering if anyone had any tips on bleeding the complete syustem from scratch?
i have, at some point, replaced every component of a brake system individually before, but never had to bleed out everything from completely empty.

-thanks

johnjzjz · 12-23-2006, 05:50 PM

if the car is a done piece with detail in the firewall and nice paint -- do not pressure the master top -- dot 3 spraying all over the place is a mistake -- we use a had held miti vac vacume pump with the capture container at the bleader and suck out all the fluid from under the car -- takes a little longer but so does some of the 10,000 dallar paint jobs on some of the cars == jz

BonzoHansen · 12-23-2006, 10:32 PM

Tim, I'm about 2 steps ahead of you. I replaced my lines because I just decided too. Glad I did. When I tried to remove the rear hose from the line that runs front to back, the line (not the hose, the hard line) just gave up and broke, kind of disintegrated. One good panic stop might have killed it.

I'm glad I decided to buy new lines.

Billy is talking me into a new bleeding tool (see other thread), but I plan on bench bleeding the MC and then gravity bleeding the rears, the fronts, then bleeding them some more.

NJSPEEDER · 12-24-2006, 12:47 AM

yeah, it wasn't exactly a choice. i noticed a fitting with a crack in it while going over the brakes.
i had planned on getting the wilwooddirect replacement calipers anyway, but now i may jsut go manual brakes and make my own lines since i will have it all apart anyway.

BonzoHansen · 12-24-2006, 08:20 PM

What, the GMIIIs?

Got any b-body spindles handy?

Batman · 12-26-2006, 06:41 AM

I would definately do it all in one shot, and make sure you go stainless on everything you can (sure I am preaching to the choir). Make sure you bench bleed the master cylinder ( I am assuming it is a non-hydraulic set-up since it is 30+ years old, if not then bleed the slave also) before you put it on. It only takes a few minutes. I would suggest if you have time to gravity bleed the system first. This is my preference but you can let the fluid get in the system while you sit back and drink beer. Just make sure the reservoir doesn't empty and you are good to go. Once you have some fluid at all the bleeders then I would pressure bleed the system. Just make sure you put some rags around the reservoir just in case. Knock on wood I've never had a pressure bleeder leak yet but it does happen. If you are really worried about spend the 2 hours with a mighty vac pumpong and pumping. . Then drive it for awhile and pressure/vacuum bleed them again just to be sure there is no air in there.

WildBillyT · 12-26-2006, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Batman

I would definately do it all in one shot, and make sure you go stainless on everything you can (sure I am preaching to the choir). Make sure you bench bleed the master cylinder ( I am assuming it is a non-hydraulic set-up since it is 30+ years old, if not then bleed the slave also) before you put it on. It only takes a few minutes. I would suggest if you have time to gravity bleed the system first. This is my preference but you can let the fluid get in the system while you sit back and drink beer. Just make sure the reservoir doesn't empty and you are good to go. Once you have some fluid at all the bleeders then I would pressure bleed the system. Just make sure you put some rags around the reservoir just in case. Knock on wood I've never had a pressure bleeder leak yet but it does happen. If you are really worried about spend the 2 hours with a mighty vac pumpong and pumping. . Then drive it for awhile and pressure/vacuum bleed them again just to be sure there is no air in there.

This is exactly what I do/would do in this situation. The only thing I have to add is that if you do get stainless hard lines then buy a good quality flare tool. I broke 2 of them and wasted a lot of time on improper flares.

NJSPEEDER · 12-26-2006, 03:13 PM

thanks guys. looks like i am gonna make a big project out of a little caliper

Batman · 12-27-2006, 11:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WildBillyT

This is exactly what I do/would do in this situation. The only thing I have to add is that if you do get stainless hard lines then buy a good quality flare tool. I broke 2 of them and wasted a lot of time on improper flares.

Agreed, I was assuming he was planning on pre-bent lines, but if you are making them get a good flare tool

WildBillyT · 12-28-2006, 08:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Batman

Agreed, I was assuming he was planning on pre-bent lines, but if you are making them get a good flare tool

He especially needs a good bender and flare tool with pre-bent lines... at least if it's Inline Tube or Classic Tube stuff

Tru2Chevy · 12-28-2006, 08:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WildBillyT

He especially needs a good bender and flare tool with pre-bent lines... at least if it's Inline Tube or Classic Tube stuff

I didn't have any problems with my stainless line from Inline Tube. I got a full set for my '87, and the only one that I had any trouble with was the passenger side front....it's not easy to run a hardline between the K member and the engine.

- Justin

Batman · 12-28-2006, 11:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WildBillyT

He especially needs a good bender and flare tool with pre-bent lines... at least if it's Inline Tube or Classic Tube stuff

I've used inline tube several times and only had to tweek a couple lines a little bit. Did you have a horror story from them?

BonzoHansen · 12-28-2006, 01:06 PM

So far so good with my classic tube set for my 77. Just some tweaks on the line to the RF. SS is hard to bend.

I haven't done the actual rear lines yet - but the front to back line was good.