Still more ?'s on brakes and suspension

[Steve M]

I have completely drained my braking system because the car is getting rebuilt calipers and steel braided hoses. Now I'm going to be putting in ATE blue fluid in and I'll be 'suck' bleeding it with the hand held vacu bleed thing.
Do I need to pre-bleed the 'rear master cylinder' thing-ama-bob? or can I just do the whole thing without the pre-bleed?

The plastic donuts that go around the rear shock underneath the spring perch. Do those things absolutly have to be installed? they wont fit around the Bilstiens. Or can I get away with NOT using them?

[John Rogers]

That is the proportioning valve and it provides a differential pressure front to rear. I bleed mine with it on and I don't know if it can be bench bleed? Check the article on brakes here on the PP site for details. The other part, if it is the flat, about 1/8 inch thick piece of material is a wiper that keeps dirt from going into the seals by wiping the rod of the shock. For a street car I would enlarge the hole with a razor knife and use it. If you are talking about the thick, black thing, that is the bumper and should most definately be used or get some that do fit. Good luck.

[Steve M]

I didnt plan on taking the proportioning valve off. I read in the Haynes manual that the proportioning valve needs to be bleed first, then the rest of the system has to be bleed. So if I use the vacum pump can I just bleed it without bleeding the valve first?

The donut I'm talking about is orange on mine and it goes around the shock itself. Just beneath the spring perch and it sits on the notch on the outside housing of the shock. Its about 4 inches high and made of a hard plastic.