[Schurkey]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

Pressure bleeding is the best method, I agree. But is out of reach for most of us working at home or in a small shop. At the school I worked at we had a fantastic pressure bleeder. Operated at 20--25 lbs., had dozens of adapters for every master cylinder you can imagine and cost over 5K to purchase. Held about 2 gallons of brake fluid so you had to use it often or the fluid would get stale just like in an old master cylinder. When all the other methods mentioned above failed, this machine would come to the rescue. Wonderful, but seldom needed.

This is the one I have, although I bought mine years ago, and it shipped with different master cylinder adapters then. Nicely under $350, made in USA.

http://www.amazon.com/Branick-G300-P...essure+bleeder

Originally Posted by rohrt

Removing the MC from the Booster to get it level is a great idea if you have a pressure bleeder.

Good idea, pressure bleeder or any other bleeding method.

Originally Posted by rohrt

That Phoenix brake bleeder kit sounds like the hot ticket but hard to justify almost $200 for a plastic hand pump and bunch of hose/fitting.

Ain't that great an idea.

Originally Posted by rohrt

I'm usually working alone in the garage too. I would prefer a pressure bleeder but the vacuum bleeding works OK. I'm wondering if I can put some grease on the bleeder screws to stop the micro bubbles that I get.

Try it, see what happens. Would likely work OK. Thick grease would be better than thin-bodied stuff, 'cause if it gets pulled into the wheel cylinder the rubber seals might not be happy.

Originally Posted by rohrt

I'm always amazed at the amount of air that comes out of a MC when bench bleeding. I really need to tear one apart and a booster too to see the inner workings. No better way to learn then that IMO.

Be VERY CAREFUL pulling a booster apart. There's a BIG spring inside that will put you in the hospital if it gets away from you. GM/Kent-Moore special tools would be your friend for that job.

Originally Posted by rohrt

When I was getting new mufflers on I was asking one of the mechanics a bunch of brake questions. He told me the last car he had in had a spongy peddle that wouldn't go away. They have a 4 post lift and had the car on its nose to level out the Master cylinder before they got a couple of big bubbles out. They had an expensive bleeder system.

Yup. If the master is tipped "up" at the front, there will be air trapped inside until you take special effort to remove it.