Any tips on filling & bleeding the new system on my 68? Its a 4 wheel disc kit from CPP with everything 100% new and empty. I figured I start by bench bleeding the new master cylinder, but wondering the best approach from there as far as filling & bleeding the rest. All lines, etc are new.

thx

I would fill the master cylinder and open the bleed valves & let gravity do it course over night. Then bleed the brakes with a friend until all the air is out. Start with the rears first.

Since it's all new have you think to go with dot 5 fluid???
gravity bleed is very effective you could help it with a vacuum pump and pump reservoir.

I filled and bled the master on the bench then installed and bled the rest with the aid of my lovely wife and pedal pusher...

You can get a really inexpensive bleeder from Harbor Freight. Had mine for a couple of years, no issues, works great.

I have a hand pump that goes on the m/c, but I actually prefer to use a mason jar and a pice of small hose. Just fill the mason jar up about a quarter way with clean brake fluid. Put the hose on the bleeder and make sure the other end is submurged in the fluid and pump. You don't need a second person, when you release the pedal, it won't suck air in the system, just fluid. No spraying fluid all over the place. Just make sure you don't run the master cylinder dry.

I use this system also. Works better if you just crack the bleeder. If you open it to far the system wants to suck fluid from the jar instead of the master reserve. Another tip is to put a curve in the hose so that the top of the curve is above the wheel cylinder and then down into a jar. This will let the bubbles "float" up the hose and away from the wheel cylinder as you pump. Bought one of those suction bleeders and went back to this system.

Good points Larry. I tried a vacuum bleeder too once, didn't like it. The jar and hose is a simple method that just happens to work better than most other methods.

Thanks for the replies. Just being that everything is dry wanted to be sure I didn't need to do anything special to prop valve, etc. So I should be good to go!



I bought a 'Mityvac' bleeder and got Dot 4 fluid. Didn't see Dot 5. What's the difference? I just wanted something that wouldn't kill paint if things got a little squirrely.

Dot 5 is Silicone fluid. Had it in my 'Vette, if your calipers ever leak you won't have any brakes on that wheel.

I've tried to use the mityvac but to me it was more trouble than it was worth. My hand got tired quickly. Give it a try and let me know what you think. I may have missed something along the way.

Make sure you bench bleed the master cylinder as you mentioned above.

Still pumping away...
I get fluid but still just kinda spurts. but it does fill the catch jar. And yes I did bench bleed the MC first. One thing the owners manual states is to do the closest one first?contradictory to all I've ever heard. Maybe that's so you don't get burned out on the longest line first! lol.

I had problems bleeding my drum brakes after replacing all the hoses, lines and wheel cylinders. Bleeding the cylinders while someone pumped the brakes didn't work. After several attempts I still had no brake pedal.
I had a pump garden sprayer laying around that I was going to pitch because the spray nozzle went bad.
After a "Hey I think I can use this." moment, I thoroughly cleaned out the sprayer. I cut the spray nozzle off leaving about two feet of hose. After putting about a pint of brake fluid in the container I disconnected the lines from the master cylinder and attached the hose to one brake line fitting at a time with a small hose clamp. If the hose doesn't fit, you might have to use a reducer on the larger fitting.
After pressurizing the sprayer with just a few pumps,( I believe it was only about 3 pumps) I was able to quickly bleed all the air out of the system one line at a time and reattach them to the master cylinder.
DO NOT REMOVE THE SPRAYER HOSE FROM THE LINE WITHOUT RELEASING THE PRESSURE IN THE TANK BY SLOWLY UNSCREWING THE PUMP FROM THE TANK.
I placed a rag around the opening while I did this.
I would be careful not to over pressurize the sprayer and also wear safety glasses. Keep the sprayer upright while doing this so it pulls fluid and not air
It worked for me.
Brian

I finally got all 4 to bleed out. I had a couple leaks which didn't help keep air OUT of the lines. But it did help gravity fill the lines. Once I got some fluid out of each cylinder, I went to the old pump and hold method and finally got solid fluid from each. Figure I'll wait until tomorrow, recheck for any leaks, and bleed again. But should be good to go.