My homemade brake pressure bleeder!

[Fishman7]

Since there has been some discussions on the board about brake bleeding problems I thought I would share my pressure bleeder so it would help others. Bleeding my brakes literally took minutes to do with this. I purchased the filter from NAPA and used components I had laying around my garage. I used the regulator on my air compressor (20 psi) and then blocked off the overflow on the reservoir and it worked like a charm. Hope this helps someone as it did me!

[84 911 WideBody]

Nice, Mine looks very close, but its a spent more tools (kent-Moore)

[Blanco]

nice!

[Fishbulb]

Clever. Thanks for sharing; That's what makes this board the bomb!

[wgirardot]

Originally Posted by Fishman7

Since there has been some discussions on the board about brake bleeding problems I thought I would share my pressure bleeder so it would help others. Bleeding my brakes literally took minutes to do with this. I purchased the filter from NAPA and used components I had laying around my garage. I used the regulator on my air compressor (20 psi) and then blocked off the overflow on the reservoir and it worked like a charm. Hope this helps someone as it did me!

Nice, if you made one up for me (1982 SC), how much would you sell it for?
I would be seriously interested in one, or a complete materials list and instructions for usage. Email me through Pelican, or privately at wgirardot(at)gmail(dot)com. That looks like a great product !!
I'll be tackling some nagging brake issues soon

thanks,

Bill

[burgermeister]

Where did you get the reservoir cap from?

[Fishman7]

I had an old cap around that I sacrificed but I think a new cap from Pelican might only be $10.00, so ruin your old cap and put a new one on your car. The most expensive part were the filters (two per pack) and they may have been around $25.00 other than that I had all of the fittings and hose. I could probably make one up for around $25.00, wgirardot since I have another filter.

[jpahemi]

By the time you add up the parts, you've exceeded the price of the pump bottle pressure bleeder already on the market?? 'Guess you wouldn't need to pump anymore with the Fishman 7 unit....
I find making a secure block for the vent on the reservoir, more of a problem..

jp

[BK911]

Here's a slightly different approach:

<$5 pressure bleeder

[Fishman7]

That system doesn't have a good filter to get rid of the water, etc unless you have one back at the compressor. And you are right do not have to pump with this system. Blocking off the vent was easy, I removed the vent line, put a different hose on with a plugged end so I didn't ruin my original vent line.

[moneymanager]

Try gravity. The way brakes were bled for the first 75 years we had cars. Before someone had found new and innovative ways to get many of us to open our wallets.
Many of you, especially those with early less complicated cars, can bleed your brakes easily in less than 30 minutes without an assistant, and without spending more than $3 on equipment. Caveat: my 73 911 lacks a hydraulic clutch so I don’t know if this procedure can be adapted for use with non-mechanical clutches.

You will need: brake fluid, six or seven feet of plastic tubing sized to fit snugly over the nipple on the brake caliper (mine uses 3/16” internal diameter tubing but check yours), and an appropriate small box wrench to open & close the bleed valve. (Sears makes small 6 sided combo wrenches which are useful for recalcitrant cases; the bleed valves on my car are 7mm but later cars I believe are 8mm.)

Here’s the procedure: jack the car up, support it on jack stands or wood blocks, and pull the wheels so you can get at the calipers. Or do one wheel at a time if you want.
Loosen the brake fluid container cover in the trunk.
At the first wheel, position the plastic tubing so it hangs straight down (from your garage roof or door or a door or even a stick or spouse) to the caliper. Slide the box wrench over the nipple, slide the plastic tubing over the nipple, and open the nipple with the wrench.
Watch the fluid rise in the tubing until it reaches the height of the brake fluid reservoir in the car, maybe 15 inches. This will take 3-4 minutes. Tap the caliper a few times with a rubber hammer or block of wood if you want. Watch the tubing for bubbles, especially when you start. If they keep on coming after the level in the tube has risen 12-15 inches, close the nipple, remove the tubing, drain it into a paper cup, and repeat. Assuming you are bubble free after 2-3 inches of fluid have drained, however, do this once; tighten the wrench, pull the tubing off while holding a paper cup to catch the fluid, and move on to the next wheel.
Keep an eye on the fluid container and replenish the brake fluid when it's down more than an inch.
Do all four wheels & again replenish the fluid.
You are done. Gravity has done all the work. You cannot damage your master cylinder with this technique, and you don’t need a helper (if you have a garage or a tree or can rig a stick to hang the tubing from.) This should take you a maximum of 5 minutes per wheel once the car is up and the wheels are off. Forget the idea that there are bubbles all thru your lines and that pressure will somehow push them out but not the fluid. A pressure bleeder only moves any bubbles and fluid thru the lines more quickly. But they travel together. So gravity will do the job perfectly if time isn’t the object.
This process works because nearly all the bubbles generated by driving around and heating the brakes excessively are found at the very top of the caliper near the bleed valve…in effect where the heat is. They are not, contrary to popular belief, dispersed throughout the brake lines. Bubbles rise to the top: they come up into the brake fluid reservoir and evaporate into the atmosphere, or they rise to the top of the caliper, where this gravity method quickly liberates them.
Depending on how much fluid you withdraw each time, you will find that the fluid is fully replaced every 10-15 bleedings. I track my car 5-6 times per year; bleeding pretty much replaces all the fluid over a couple of years, as recommended by many experts. So forget pressure, fancy valves, assistants who hold the brake pedal down, etc etc and do it the easy way!

[SteveinTO]

20 psi seems high to me to apply to the plastic brake reservoir. Did you confirm that with a gauge or just approximate?

I used to pressurize the dry sump tank on my Formula Ford to prime the pump after an engine rebuild and 20 lbs would make the aluminum oil tank go "bloomp." Sure got quick oil pressure that way though.

[Fishman7]

I used a gauge on my compressor and there was no problem with the plastic reservoir. The gravity method works also but by pressurizing the system you can do it faster and can push out any dirt and bubbles in the system for sure.

[Charlie V]

I used this and limited the pressure to 10 psi. Worked well.