Brake Bleeding Success!

[Don Plumley]

Sorry for being a posting hog - I'm just a happy camper tonite.

So it's not like rebuilding a motor, or putting a 3.6 into an early car, but hey, it's a first for me, so here's my story:

In prep for my first autox, I flushed and bleed my brakes. Thanks to all the advice posted on the board, this was so easy I'm wondering what I've done wrong.

Jim Sims posted a great procedure that really helped me out - thanks Jim! I pretty much did exactly what he said.

After getting through my Motive problem, I clamped the overflow line and pressure tested the system to 14 psi.

Since the fluid looked pretty dirty, I decided to do a flush first. So I ran a liter of Castrol GTX DOT 4 through the system. Saw some real gunk come out too.

So here's the setup of a guy who's really paranoid about brake fluid:



Yes, the bleeder is in a trash bag, in a bucket, on a drain pan. And I pulled the carpet back. And I removed the carpet from the pedal cluster. See the new Super Blue coming in! And two clamps on the overflow. Man, all those posts about that nasty brake fluid got me scared!

And at the wheel:



Bob/Kevin - yes, in the middle of this I did think about the clutch - but my luck was running so good, that I didn't want to tempt fate. I'll bleed the cluch after I replace the shift shaft seal.

I did four trips around the car. Two each wheel on the flush, and two each wheel with the Super Blue. Remember, I'm the guy that has the pan, the bucket, and the bag.

I never saw a bubble, so I didn't do the brake pedal bleed procedure that Wayne talked abou in his book.

So the proof is in the stopping. And stop I can! Pedal is firm and solid. So I guess I did allright?

Question 1: I have 1/3 of a can of Super Blue left. I poured it back out of the Motive bleeder into the can. How long is this stuff good for, or is it toast already?

Question 2: Is it really that easy? I mean, pressure it up, run fluid through, brakes work?

Okay, so I've changed tranny oil, engine oil, now brake fluid. Woo Hoo. Yeah I know, it's small beer (hmm, I think I should go crack one now...) Gaining in confidence, I think I'm ready for front struts and the shift shaft seal.

Thanks to all who have posted advice or hints - I could not have done this so easily without this board.

Don

[Doug Zielke]

Don,
Great pictures of your procedure....Better safe than re-painted!!
The Motive Products pressure bleeder is a terrific tool, at a modest price.

I would suggest that any left over brake fluid, be properly disposed of. Being hygroscopic, it will soon be rendered useless by the atmosphere.

[BierHunter]

I picked up one of the pressure bleeders myself this past year after reading about it on these forums. That's one of the best investments I've made. I love it!

I like the plastic lined bucket idea.

[turbo dave]

I've found just the thing for catching the fluid coming off the calipers- a wine bottle is very stable, holds the hose well with it's small neck, and forces you to drink a bottle to have it available

I wouldn't use the rest of the bottle- it's ben opened, and probably will keep absorbing water through the less airtight cap. Congrats, and have fun at the auto-x.

[tobluforu]

Good job! One bad thing i noticed is the paint can. Behr paint is no good!

[71T Targa]

Don, This looks GREAT. I 'had' plans to replace my lines with ss this weekend, but it's gotten cold again. Oh well, there will be plenty of time before spring is really here.

Did you do anything with the break pedal? I've heard that some push in the pedal and block it there. But I guess I don't know why???

[vesnyder]

Pushing the pedal down a few inches prevents fluid from leaking out of opened brake lines. Not required when bleeding with this method.

[89911]

Put a date on the can, close it, and you can reuse it up to a month after opening. Save it for collecting the next bleed.

[Don Plumley]

Okay, one month? Maybe I'll have time to bleed the clutch.

A wine bottle! What a great idea - using it and drinking it.

I forgot to mention:

Motive Power Bleeder: $42.95 (one-time expense)
1 liter Castrol Brake Fluid (for flush): $4.99
1 liter ATE Super Blue: $9.95

Doing it myself: ...priceless.

Don

[Jim Sims]

Congratulations Don, That Motive power bleeder makes sure makes it easy doesn't it. You have also saved yourself a chunk of change. I know one poor Porsche owner who was charged $500 for a brake bleed job - no the lines and pads weren't replaced just new fluid and labor! Cheers, Jim

[Jdub]

Good on ya big guy! And no you are not being paranoid or overly cautious; one drop can ruin your day!

You may have convinced me to drop my traditional manner of brake bleeding and think about a Motive...

John

[kepperly]

please when you do the clutch post some more of your great pics
thanks keith

[Doug E]

Don - great pics and nice website too!

I'm getting ready in the near future to do this as well so it's great to hear another success story.

FWIW, I often find myself using my Behr paint cans as well.

[Don Plumley]

Woo hoo! I had my first Autox! About two weeks ago I ran in the OCR PCA autox. What a complete blast. My first goals were: 1) don't get lost on the track; and 2) don't hold up traffic. No sweat there. Had one of the instructors (Garey Cooper) ride with me on my first time out and from there it only got better.

I don't have enough accolades for how the car felt. I was able to steer with the throttle, keep it on the edge of adhesion - the car simply telegraphed everything it was going to do. Man that was fun!

Schumacher is in no danger - in fact, my time was in the bottom 1/3 of the group (1.2 sec off the mean time), so no bragging rights here. But in my timed runs, I was able to take 5 seconds off my time, with each lap consecutively better.

I signed up for the April event - so now to move into the middle 1/3.

Thanks to all who posted advice - it made a real difference. Now I have some maintenance questions I'll post separately.

Don

(P.S. - when I get a pic of my car on the track I'll post it for fun)

[Don Plumley]

Cr@p - I didn't mean to post this here - please disregard.

Sorry!

[PeteBrown]

Although I successfully changed my oil tonite, I ran out of time to change the brake fluid. I looked at my master cylinder and saw two lines coming out the resevoir. From Don's post I see that the smaller gray line is the overflow line but what is the larger, light blue braded line coming out of the resevoir? It appears to run down to the back of the gas tank.


Thanks

[VenezianBlau 87]

Don:

Great idea with the trash bag lining the bucket. I did'nt think of that when I bled my brakes after I rebuilt the fronts two weekends ago. I had a brush with stupidity that day as I pumped up Motive device....and....a catch bucket would have been smart.

Please post how the clutch master cylinder bleeding goes...
It sure looks like a tight fit to get my hand or tool in (up) there!

Cheers,
Bob Sauerteig

[sammyg2]

Don, I remember seeing your car at Irwindale. I checked your timed runs, not bad at all. Consistent improvement on every lap, faster than three other cars in J/SS. Much better than I did my first time out. Way to go. beautiful car too.

How did you do in April?

In July we're running on the 1/2 mile bank oval track using both banks and the infield. The race is already sold out, they only invited 30 drivers. Basically a dry run practice to iron out the details in preparation
for the zone 8 even in september, over 100 cars expected to sign up.
If you haven't ever felt a 4 wheel drift towards a rather large concrete wall, let's just say it gets your attention.

Next time out look me up, maybe i can go for a ride with you or visa versa. I finally made rank and can take folks for rides now :-0
I've got the black SC, #87

Sam Gore
OCR/PCA member, asst. tech inspector and occasional driving instructor
rennlist member
1980 911 SC

[911pcars]

Since we're talking about brake fluid under pressure in this operation, maybe it'd be a good idea to install a much longer hose between the tank and the reservoir.

In case of a mishap in the pic above, how much paint remains exposed? I'd prefer to err on the safe side.

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

[Don Plumley]

Pete - the thick blue hose going down is for the clutch cylinder on the pedal cluster. Unique for the G50 cars.

Bob - I've done a couple of cluch bleeds since then. Get the car up as high as you can, put the wrench on the bleed valve first (7mm?), then put the hose on the bleed valve, trapping the wrench. I think a clutch pedal press is necessary to really do a good job on that one. My bleed valve is getting rounded off - next time I bleed if I see any bubbles I'm going to replace at least the slave cylinder and maybe the pedal cylinder (per JW).

Sam - I'll look you up. I went on the March Autox and drove badly. I think I scared Christian Van Fleet almost losing it at the start line, I actually took out one of the brand new timing boxes (no damage, whew!). I'm really, really discouraged with myself...pretty close to selling the car in disgust. I lost a lot of the fun factor that day.