Here's a garage tool that you'll wonder how you ever did without, especially considering how easy and cheap it is to make. What I made is a pressure bleeder that allows for flawless one-man brake bleeding. Gone is the need to drag your less-than-enthusiastic wife into the garage for an agravating twenty minutes of "are we done yet?" The construction is simple and should be evident from the photos. First, I made the base from 3/8 aluminum. The material nor the thickness of the stock are important; what's important is to make sure that the peice is large enough to cover the top of your master cylinder. Next, I eyeballed a location for a 1/4 NPT tapped hole. On my design, I placed the hole so that it was soley on top of the front reservoir and then would be soley on top of the rear reservoir when flipped around. With the 1/4 NPT hole made, the next step is to arrange some combination of pipe fittings and a regulator such that you'll be able to bring approximately 5 PSI of air in from your compressor. My plumbing is a bit more complicated than needed; it's made so that I can switch the regulator between the pressure bleeder and my paint gun. Lastly, you're going to need to make a gasket to seal the bleeder to your master cylinder. I made mine from the common gasket paper that's available in rolls at auto parts stores (even Pep Boys). That's it! Use is pretty easy. Align the 1/4 NPT hole over the reservoir to be bled and clamp the bleeder to the master cylinder using two C-clamps... nothing fancy here. Adjust the regulator down to approximately 5 PSI. Start bleeding at the furthest wheel from the reservoir. Slide a length of clear tubing over the end of the bleeder screw and loosen up the bleeder screw. Keep an eye out for bubbles. When the bubbles stop, tighten up the bleeder screw and move on to the next wheel. I like to top off the reservoir with brake fluid between wheels. If you're not carefull it's pretty easy to run the reservoir dry. There you go... a rock solid brake pedal in about ten minutes! Ed
that's pretty cool..... i used the little cheapo one man from autozone....works good but you still have to run back and forth i like the idea of using pressure....would work good for flushing the system too.. question.....do you hold the top on the master cylinder with a C clamp. or what....i'm not sure i understand......
My friend had a store bought one that you use your tire air pressure on, so its mobile! It had a couple different tops and various clamps. it was cool
Good tech. If you glue a piece of rubber to cover the plate, with an opening for the air, you will have a universal gasket. Thanks Mutt
Easier and cheaper. Works on the race car. Won't run dry. Won't put too much pressure on the resivoir. http://www.bmw-m.net/TechProc/bleeder.htm
I used steel plate, probably 5/16" thick and just used a male hose fitting and regulated shop air. I went to the local hardware store and bought some rubber gasket material. It was about a 6"x6" square. I found it in the plumbing department. Hold it onto the m/c with a large c clamp.
Good tech!! How about adding a tank into the path...then you could have a quart or two of fluid and make a complete p***...plus, you could make a SECOND tank routed to just a pipe fitting and have a pressure-preluber for engines that could also be used to detect the problem area in engines with low oil pressure... probably a quick p*** through the s**** section of the junkyard would provide a tank or two with pipe thread openings.
fng guy here just my two cents worth used a pressure sprayer one quart size with nozzle cut off with brake fluid in it and flushed n filled while bleeding no chance of running out of fluid
Guys, Thanks for the ideas on making this thing work better by using a pressure sprayer and/or fluid reservoirs, but I think you might be missing the point... This setup was made in about ten minutes using s**** metal and fittings I already had in the garage. Nary a trip was made to the hardware store and/or junkyard, nor was a single dollar spent. Did I mention it works GREAT? Just top of the master cylinder between brakes and you're set. There's no reason to overthink this! Thanks just the same for your interest and feedback! Ed PS- Someone asked how I hold this down to the master cylinder. The answer is two C-clamps.
Speaking of LOW EFFORT - LOW BUCK bleeder tricks - here's one of mine - I grabbed a LARGE syringe and a piece of clear tubing - I loosened a bleeder, hooked up the hose and then used it to bleed with - worked great - took 10 seconds to make and actually works pretty good considering I have a power bleeder and grab for the syringe instead!!! It DOES take quite a bit of force to pull the fluid through, but with a little patience it does work good.
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