Homemade brake pressure bleeder

[Greg72]

Any reason why I can't just use the old MC cover and drill a couple holes in it?

Seems like a guaranteed perfect fit, and no risk of a C-Clamp slipping off....or leaks during the bleeding?

 

[Yukon Jack]

If you by chance have a spare cover than that is a great way to do it. I don't have any spares to fit either of my MC's.

 

[Chevy305]

Any reason why I can't just use the old MC cover and drill a couple holes in it?

Seems like a guaranteed perfect fit, and no risk of a C-Clamp slipping off....or leaks during the bleeding?

Thats better than my piece of 14 gauge sheet metal...

 

[Greg72]

If you by chance have a spare cover than that is a great way to do it. I don't have any spares to fit either of my MC's.

Well the replacement MC came with a new cover, so when I yank out the old one I'll have a spare....

Hope you don't mind, I repaired the broken link at the top of this thread for ya.

 

[Chief Brody]

I like the idea of the extra MC lid....but, how much does all the parts cost if you buy a spayer, tubing, fittings, clamps, metal cap, gasket/rubber...ball valves??

I bet that would approach $50....

 

[DieselWarrior]

Still following the thread, I still need to do a "proper" bleed so I might be able to do something like this soon, I hope!

Andrew

 

[Highpsi]

So I'm digging up this old post to see if any of you guys have made a tool like this for a newer style master cylinder with the plastic reservoir.

I've made one, and I can't get the plate to seal up well and keep from having a fluid bath everywhere. I'm afraid to clamp down too hard to either damage / break the plastic or pop the seals / damage them.

I guess I could try modifying a cover and gasket instead but still going to have to try to use something to keep it clamped shut.

I'd just abandon the idea and go about it with a vacuum bleed, but this is a great tool for other cars and trucks too and I want to do complete system flushes on all my vehicles so this seemed like a great idea. Now I just need to figure out the final trick to make it work this crappy plastic reservoir!

 

[bigjbear]

Me and a friend built one for our BMWs with plastic resivisors. They make an aluminum cap with a barb already installed. It works great and doesn't leak. I'm sure they make something for GM vehicles since there are a lot more of them out there.

 

[Highpsi]

Me and a friend built one for our BMWs with plastic resivisors. They make an aluminum cap with a barb already installed. It works great and doesn't leak. I'm sure they make something for GM vehicles since there are a lot more of them out there.

I've done a bit of searching and can't find anything readily. The tough part is that these darn MC's have a "snap on" style cap and you're forced to try to keep it shut by some type of clamping method.

Though this is turning out to be much more work than I'd planned, I'm determined to figure something out. I've got an idea that involves some really large gear clamps and installing a barb in a spare MC cap. We'll see how that goes..

edit: So I stand corrected as I've found this adaptor now: http://motiveproducts.3dcartstores.com/1115-Metal-Rectangular-Universal-Adapter-_p_124.html
But I think I'll try creating my own plastic one first.

 

[dhcomp]

I've done a bit of searching and can't find anything readily. The tough part is that these darn MC's have a "snap on" style cap and you're forced to try to keep it shut by some type of clamping method.

Though this is turning out to be much more work than I'd planned, I'm determined to figure something out. I've got an idea that involves some really large gear clamps and installing a barb in a spare MC cap. We'll see how that goes..

edit: So I stand corrected as I've found this adaptor now: http://motiveproducts.3dcartstores.com/1115-Metal-Rectangular-Universal-Adapter-_p_124.html
But I think I'll try creating my own plastic one first.

I tried to do the barb'd spare cap business. The cap itself made it fail - there really isn't a pressure seal with that style cap. It will leak out the "threads".

Your best bet is some sort of larger plate you can clamp over.

I said F it the last time i ran into this one, and dropped it at a shop

 

[dremu]

I've stopped dinking with pressure and gone to vacuum bleeding. Messy, annoying, requires yards and yards of the teflon tape for the bleeder threads ... but works.

-- A

 

[Big Ray]

it's not home made, but for 30$ it's hard to beat......imo


clickity

 

[Highpsi]

I've stopped dinking with pressure and gone to vacuum bleeding. Messy, annoying, requires yards and yards of the teflon tape for the bleeder threads ... but works.

-- A

I hate to admit defeat, but in the end that's what I ended up doing anyway. I had to use the MY-T vac and do-er with that instead. No matter what I do, can't get a plate or anything to seal without being worried about applying too much clamping force on that cheap plastic MC reservoir.

I see you mention doing teflon tape on the bleeders. Is that where I keep getting those damn tiny air bubbles coming from even long after I KNOW I've purged the air from the lines?? For the life of me I would keep trying on each one to see nice clean, air free fluid in the hose of my bleeder but couldn't stop those tiny little bubbles from going every time! I knew it wasn't my rubber seal from the mytivac adaptors either, so that's what I was guessing - leaks from the bleeder threads right?

it's not home made, but for 30$ it's hard to beat......imo


clickity

Yea, I had toyed around with the idea of getting that thing once, but read all the terrible reviews about it and decided that HF was a no go this time. In the end, I shoulda tried it probably after all the hardware parts and pieces I've got wrapped up in my new pressure bleeder that's useless for newer K trucks at this point. Ahh.. At least its gonna work great for the wife's car and mine too if I ever need to use it on them and make a cap for them that will work!

 

[dremu]

I see you mention doing teflon tape on the bleeders. Is that where I keep getting those damn tiny air bubbles coming from even long after I KNOW I've purged the air from the lines?? For the life of me I would keep trying on each one to see nice clean, air free fluid in the hose of my bleeder but couldn't stop those tiny little bubbles from going every time! I knew it wasn't my rubber seal from the mytivac adaptors either, so that's what I was guessing - leaks from the bleeder threads right?

Yep, exactly. You can use either tape or some kinda sealant, i.e. Rectumseal (Rectorseal? whatever it is, comes in a yellow thing.) I thought it was unnecessary but some of the fancy bleeders screws come with it, and Wilwood actually tells you to use it.

-- A

 

[cybrfire]

I built one of these as well but wasn't happy with the idea of pumping anything.

I built a reservoir and hooked that to a input regulator and then the air compressor.

Regulate the input pressure to 10 psi. With only 10 psi, you don't need an uber container. You can easily make something and weld some fittings into it.

Did basically the same thing for filling axles and gear boxes with gear lube.

Bring the air in on the top of the res. and the fluid out the bottom. Keep the reservoir oriented upright and you'll never have a problem. My brake bleeder is small enough to be hung from the hood. Gear box filler is much larger. Its on wheels and is made from an old air tank. This one I use full pressure from the air compressor.

 

[sponsoredbydad]

I'm still a fan of PUMP --- HOLD ---DID IT HIT THE FLOOR? --- OK PUMP --- HOLD --- PUMP AGAIN

 

[sweetk30]

slow and steady pump 3 and hold .

crack it / guy pumping says floor .

close it and say pump .

keep doing till no visable air and then let pedal up and hit 1 time and check travel on pedal .

works 99% of the time for me.

fyi : if you pump to fast on a empty system you can foam it up and take a lot longer to blead out.

I don't recall at this time but there is a company that make the same kit were here are making but also sells cap adaptors . and there jug/pump is a lot smaller for 1 gal of fluid .

 

[Fordum]

The biggest problem with the pump and hole technique, is that about 70% of the time, you wind up replacing the master cylinder within a week or so.

When you bottom out a master that has not gone that far in years, the crud/rust tears the seals on the piston and it starts getting flaky.

 

[cybrfire]

The biggest problem with the pump and hole technique, is that about 70% of the time, you wind up replacing the master cylinder within a week or so.

When you bottom out a master that has not gone that far in years, the crud/rust tears the seals on the piston and it starts getting flaky.

Been there and done that. Sucks to get them all bled and then be tearing back into the system again.

 

[Highpsi]

What's funny (well not really that funny by the time I finished dicking around with this job) is that I ended up using a combination of all 3 things by the time I was done!

I moved a lot of fluid through the system with my first hokey system of pressurizing it, but I knew there was no way I'd bled all the air out. Then I moved on to the trusty my-t Vac and in hindsight now I realize I could have stopped there because the air I was seeing was coming from my bleeder threads actually. But no - I wasn't about to be satisfied until I saw every freaking last bit of nasty fluid purged from the lines so time to call the wife into the garage! lol... She's really been getting good at helping me bleed brakes over the years!

I like the suggestion you've got cybrfire. Sounds like a superior way to move fluids through whatever system you got.

And as for the old traditional ways, yea we all know they work, sure - but if you're by yourself and want to get a flush right the first time seems like pressurized is the way to go.
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