Quick Questions - Bleeding And Aligning

[jyl]

Some quick questions, please.

I have to bleed my rear brakes after removing and reinstalling the calipers.

1. Is there any particular kind of brake fluid I should get? I know zero about brake fluid types or brands except that there is silicone and non-silicone and they have DOT numbers (I don't know which kind is in my car, either).

2. I have no fancy bleeding tool, so was simply going to have my wife work the pedal as I loosen and tighten the bleed screws. I'll start from the right rear, then left rear, hopefully won't have to do the fronts but if I do then will go right front, left front. Won't get fluid on the paint. Any other tips?

Then I have an appointment to get the car balanced and aligned at S-Car-Go in Marin, appx 30 miles driving from my house (decided not to try it myself, am losing patience . . . ). When I reinstalled the rear suspension, I did index the t-bars per the online calculator, but had no idea how to set the spring plate eccentrics, except that I tried to get toe-in rather than toe-out (pushed the trailing arm all the way "forward"). The camber eccentric is where-ever it happened to end up.

3. Will I damage my tires, myself, etc, driving 30 miles with the rear end in this rather random state of alignment? I'll drive carefully, but it is a freeway route.

[TimT]

When you bleed brakes.... start at the farthest from the brake pedal, and progress to the closest..

To bleed follow this..

passenger rear then drivers rear......passnegers front then drivers front..

You will be able to tell the differnce between the new and old brake fluids......If you not sure get a dyed brake fluid.... "Ate Blue"

you will need some hose for the bleed valves......

[Don Plumley]

A wine bottle makes a great container to catch brake fluid - narrow neck keeps the hose in place, heavy bottom makes it hard to tip over. Plus you get to empty it!

Pressing too far with the brake pedal (easy to do with the bleeder valves open) can damage the MC seals. Then you have a MC rebuild on your hands. The most important thing about pumping is not to let off the pedal until you close the valve. Use a box end wrench on the bleeder valves.

ATE super blue is excellent brake fluid, but unless you are going to DE or Autox your car, is probably overkill. Any top end, name brand fluid will do.

Get a copy of 101 Projects for other good tips.

[lateapex911]

Tim hit the nail...make sure you get a tube that is clear and fits the bleeder nipple tightly. Put the end in a bottle, and for sure use a liquid of a different color. Use this as an oppurtunity to flush the entire system. I use ATE blue. Most likely the fluid in there is amber.

You probably know the routine: When I do it, i tell my assistant "Down", they push the pedal and I crack the screw. They say "floor" when the pedal bottoms, I close the screw, and say "Up". Then we do it over again.

I wouldn't worry about the alignment...but it may feel wonky! Just don't go trail braking into a decreasing radius exit ramp!

[911pcars]

MC replacement likely should you hit the floor while bleeding. Try putting a block of wood under the pedal to limit pedal travel. Do a search and read other's experience with this bleeding method.

Sherwood Lee
http://members.rennlist.org/911pcars

[jyl]

Thank you everyone. Brakes got bled, car got to the shop, everything is hunky-dory.

Corner balanced to within 5 lbs at appx Euro height.

Aligned to front -1.25 deg camber, very slightly toed-out (0" plus a smidge), 5-6% caster with a bit more on the right (to resist the crown of the road). Rear -1.5 deg camber, 1/16" toe-in. I asked for more negative camber, but the shop said they couldn't get it without a shock tower strut and some more lowering.

These settings are what I settled on after reading various threads here and talking to S-Car-Go in Marin.

Also had turbo tie rods put in - hadn't planned to but I had a moment of weakness. S-Car-Go said that with the rest of the suspension stuff, it made no sense to use the old tie rods. [Edit: by the way, I'd have saved $70 less shipping, had I bought the tie rods from Pelican.]

That's a nice shop, by the way. The yellow carbon fiber-bodied car that was in Excellence a few issues ago was there, it was pretty impressive. (It's for sale.) And S-Car-Go custom makes rollbars with the hoop up tight against the roof and the rear legs angled to run along the C-pillars and down through the rear deck, instead of down into the rear seat armrest area - looks much cleaner, virtually no interference with the rear seat area.

Felt very nice on the drive home, all of which could have been psychological of course.