some days just dont go too good

[cas3]

so i'm finally to the point of putting fluid in my 34 jalopy hyd brakes. the grand moment after fabbing master cyl mount without any butchering, weeks of on and off, the big moment arrived. this time i used nicopp, the new fangled brake line that is a blend of nickle and copper, wont rust and easy to work with, softer than steel so flares are perfect, no leaks...they say. well it is nice to work with i will say. bends easy flares nice.i used the same ol flaring tool i have had for decades, inspected each one, only had one that got a little off center, cut it off and made it good. when doing a new system, things can get messy, i would prefer to be out in the gravel driveway, but its winter on the frozen swamp, so i went to the hardware store and bought some clear plastic line that fit the bleeders, and got a clean mason jar to bleed into because " im not gonna make a mess this time' . so, the big event begins. first, i find the leaks where i only had things finger tight, loose for bending lines etc. mess no1. next at the first rear wheel i start at, i notice that even when the bleeder is closed, i see a bubble in my plastic tube. big deal right, just tighten it up some more. well, after about 4 attempts to do the first one, that bleeder will not seal. now in this case the rear end i built up apparently just had a brake job dome before the car was retired who knows when, but the drums, shoes and cylinders were new and i decided to take advantage of my luck and bought new rubber cups for the pistons and chose to use the rest. while at the store, i thought heck i might as well buy new bleeders too, they look nice, fit good, go for it! so while at the store i noticed my new bleeders have a surface for the wrench to grab that is only about 1/16" thick. why would they do that i thought, but what ever they are new, should be no problem. well, now i'm cranking so hard on the fitting that the wrench is starting to wreck the lil 1/16 hex surface, and its still leaking. so, i realize its gotta go, and i look thru the mess on my bench to find the old one, wire wheel it, run a drill bit thru to clean it, blow it out, and remove the new chinese thing to replace it with the old one while dripping fluid on the floor. remember, i am on number one. go to the other rear wheel, same thing, bleeder will not close, repeat all previous steps, more fluid on the floor. now, i have the rears roughed in so i got a little pedal, enough to start seeing all the leaks at the front. so first, both bleeders have a dribble, not a big deal, i have the wrench in my hand...it doesnt fit! should be 3/8, but i see immediately that its not 7/16, its 10mm ! why would they do that? i bought them a while back, cant remember where, i buy from lots of vendors, so more leaking while i go get the 10mm. about now, there is so much fluid on the floor that i had to go get another new quart, and there was only a 1/4" in my mason jar, remember , no mess this time. so once i finally had four wheels working, i still had to go around tightening joints and finished up the night about 3 hours into a quick job, about a quart on the floor, and a new quart slightly used sitting by the front tire. i decided to clean up the floor so i could see any more leaks over night. i heat with wood. every morning i carry an arm load of wood in with me to start the day. been doing it for decades, never drop any. remember the quart sitting by the tire? well one log fell, bounced once and knocked over the open bottle. but this time im not gonna make a mess...ya, right. most of my cars are still mechanical brakes. never a mess. this car was a wreck, and had none of the brake parts or it too would not have any fluid. wake up, i'm done whining!

[Talkwrench]

Welcome to the joys of working on old cars... We all have a story like that im sure

[95476]

On days like that I take a break and come back and hit it when I am calm.
Sometimes just another approach is all it takes.
One of the little lessons I have learned.

[flatheadmurre]

You have way more patience then me...in about halftime i would have either gone for coffee...or started throwing bleeders out the backdoor cursing the chinese who made them...
Need some of thoose days to realise how nice most are...
A nice cup of coffee and a magazine by the stove later all is good again.

[RandyMettler]

I find it easier to go into the job thinking I am going to make a mess this time, misplace at least one critical tool that I need to finish the job and drop at least one thing into the engine bay, or motor that takes at least an hour to find or fish out. I dropped a nail into my exhaust valve when setting valve lash on my flathead that took me an hour to fish out. Another day and another set of new exhaust manifold gaskets, nail found.

[Brian]

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Well cas, I like the way you write, I could picture every little step in your sequence. Except, unlike you at the time, I could see the humour in it all. I'm still chuckling as I write this!
I think we all have days like that.

[tubman]

Two words : "Speed Bleeders"

[Frank Miller]

Maybe pressurize with air first and check for leaks by spring joints with soapy water. Then all that dripping soapy water can be used to clean the mess you're not going to make.

[ABento]

Buying new stuff these days almost seems a waste of time and money, as you said, leaks and metric and fittings built incorrect, I'm just about at the point of sending masters and wheel cylinders out to have them sleeved and keep using them as the new stuff is worthless.

I just bought a new master cylinder for a command car installed it and it leaks around the adapter fitting, humm, maybe left it a little loose, nope still leaks,remove the fitting and put a dab of hylamar on the threads,still leaks, put old fitting in,nope,tighten fitting till i was blue in the face,nope,its coming out and going back,must be leaking around the fitting orfice.

[Flathead Fever]

You have just learned the first rule of working on old Fords. Always use original parts. they will fit.

It sounds like the seats on the bleeders are different shapes? They make different types of flares that require different types of bleeders. Compare the flares to each other. When your making brake tubing flares inspect the flare for cracks. If you get carried away with too much pressure creating the flare it will crack the flare and then it will leak. I'm talking about a double flare. No single flares on brakes!

Make sure you have a little free play in your pedal so the piston can return all the way back to the snap ring. No more free play than necessary. You don't want to have the brake rod fall out.

You always bleed the master cylinder first, At work we chucked the master cylinder in a vice. Stuck our finger over the brake line holes and pushed the master cylinder in with a big screw driver several times until the master cylinder shot fluid clean across the stall and onto your buddies tool box. If you could hit him while he was walking by that was even better. Afterwards it cleans up the floors pretty nice, leaves a nice shine

They make all kinds of plastic master cylinder bleeding kits but what works the best is to make a little brake line that connects to the master cylinder and then loop it right back up and into the reservoir. You have a nice sealed connection so no air can get drawn back into the master cylinder. Then you start pumping away until nothing but fluid is circulating. You can also plug the brake line hole to bleed a master cylinder. Then pump the master cylinder and the air will interally bleed out through the return holes in the floor of the reservoir. This takes longer but it does work, You will see the air bubbles coming up from the holes in the bottom of the reservoir.

Next, you hook up your brake line but leave the nut a 1/2 turn loose so you can shut it quickly. Have somebody "slowly" step on the pedal, before it gets to the bottom tighten the nut. Just one time will be enough. That purges out any air that got into that connection.

Don't let the fluid get on any paint it. It eats paint so you don't want it running down your backing plates. Immediately wash it off with water if gets on your paint. Open the furthest bleeder which is the right rear. If the master cylinder is higher than the wheel cylinder it can be gravity bleed. It takes forever but it works. Fluid will just trickle down the line, fill the cylinder and then start backing up in the line to the master cylinder. Air bubbles will get caught in the line. They don't go all over the place when your bleeding, they just flow tight along until they come out the bleeder. They can't go anywhere but down the line at out the bleeder. Make sure to keep the master cylinder full, don't let it run out or you will get start all over from the beginning.

Then there is the the normal way of having somebody step on the pedal while you open the bleeder and close the bleeder I've seen people stomp the pedal repeatedly before opening the bleeder, don't do that. That breaks the large bubbles into lots of tiny ones making it harder to bleed. Nice and easy pedal strokes, as slow as you can push it. You yell "pedal up" and open the bleed a 1/2 turn. Yell. "pedal down" and close the bleeder as the flower starts to slow down. The other person is not allowed to move the pedal until you give the command. You keep doing that until you have a nice steady flow of fluid. Then onto the left rear, right front and last the left front. That pedal should be rock hard. If goes halfway down but a quick second pump brings the pedal up higher then your brakes need to be adjusted.


Otherwise it will just draw air right back in when they release the pedal. Do not stomp on the pedal over and over before you open the bleeder. TOne thing the instructor at a factory Ford brake school said to do was tap wheel cylinders and disc brake calipers with a hammer. That's because little air bubbles can cling to their sides. If you do this it speeds up the bleeding process. Who knows if it does? It makes since so I do it.

When bleeding the brakes you can still see bubbles coming out even when there is not air left in your brake system. It depends on how loose your brake bleeders are. The fluid going by can pull air in, through the bleeders threads. It makes you think you still have air in the lines. If you have bled out about double the mount of fluid the wheel cylinder and the line holds you should be pretty close to having all the air out.

Do not overtighten the lines or you will crack the flares. They do not need to be Magilla Gorilla tight. Road test the car and then check for leaks. Than aways get in a habit at glancing at the backing plates for any signs of leakage.

Here is a bubble flare on this tubing. There are all kinds of flares so compare the ones on your bleeders.










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[fortyonerag]

At least you didn't slip in the brake fluid and take a fall.

Another two words: plastic hip!

[aussie merc]

what can i say but step back take a deep breath close the door pour a good Bourbon and worry about it tomorrow

[19Fordy]

Ouch, I made it through the first three lines before my eyes rebelled.

Hope all turned out good in the end.

[cas3]

yes, all is good, just some humor for you to read. like it or not...we all have those days!

[Mike in AZ]

Yep. Keep your sense of humor and carry on! Mike

[Black Fifty]

Great story!


I feel like I have more of those days as I get older.

[B-O-B]

try a mighty vac next time.
Get shod of your friend "MURPHY"