Can someone give me some step by step on how to bleed my brakes? I have read several different articles and some say use gravity bleeding, some say pump the brake pedal etc. What is a rookie to believe? I see my steel line coming into caliper, is that the bleeder or is it the screw on the outside of caliper??? Please let me know how to proceed and which way to go.

 

In my opinion when dealing with 'vettes gravity bleeding is always best. Start with the right rear wheel, there are two bleeders on 'vette calipers, one on the inside and one on the outside. Bleed them both, by slipping plastic tygon tubing over the bleeder and run it down to a jar that has some brake fluid in it. Keep the end of the hose under the fluid. Crack the bleeder and let it go. Watch your master cylinder fluid level and add fluid as needed. Tapping the calipers with a hard rubber or wooden mallet can help free air bubble up to the top of the caliper where the bleeders are. Once you have no bubbles in the plastic line, the caliper is probably air free. Tighten the bleeder and move to the other rear wheel and repeat.
Actually you can do the front and rears at the same time since the front and back wheels are fed from two seperate compartments in the master cylinder. When doing the fronts start on the right front wheel first. Do the fronts just like the back.
In my opinion vacuum doesn't work too good on 'vette brakes, the free floating pistons have a tendency to pump air anyway and too much vacuum can suck air in around the pistons.
I've done the pumping routine, but only when flushing the brake system and adding new fluid. I've never had much luck doing the pumping routine getting all the air out.

 

Gravity bleeding takes just too long time... In the last 4 weeks.. I did a lot of brake work on my car and also on a friends car... We tried gravity bleeding.. but it would have taken hours to finish the job like that. The fastest way works like that:

One person has to pump the brake and stay on the brake.
A second person has to open the bleeder on each wheel (one at a time - starting from right rear, left rear, right front and finally left frong) until the brake pedal is on the floor. The person that has his foot on the brake pedal has to indicate the person bleeding the brake that the pedal is on the floor.. As soon as the pedal is on the floor - the person the bleeds the brake has to close the bleeder again. Repeat that step a few times and always check the master cylinder. Always top up the fluid with fresh brake fluid. Repeat those steps until clean new brake fluid comes out of the bleeder.
Same procedure on all 4 calipers...



[Modified by GrandSportC3, 12:29 AM 9/7/2003]

 

I will concur with everything said. However, I have used the 2 man, vacuum pump, gravity and a Motive power bleeder. I have never had such a firm peddle until I used the power bleeder. In fact I used gravity on the RR and then used the power bleeder and in about 8-10 seconds the bleeder screw spit out a string of bubbles that were in the line. If you have access to a power bleeder, or know a shop that will use on it is the way to go.

 

I've had good success with the two-person method, but I've never tried any other method so I can't give you a comparison.

The bleeder is the little "nipple" screwed into the caliper. Search the Web for "brake bleeder" and you'll see a pic.

A couple of other things....

Some people don't like the Haynes/Chiltons manuals, but I think they're a good starting source of info and a good deal for the price. Anyway, Haynes specifies the bleeding order for '78 through '82 Corvettes to be:

Left Rear Inner
Left Rear Outer
Right Rear Inner
Right Rear Outer
Left Front
Right Front

Inner/Outer refer to the two bleeders the rear caliper has that were mentioned in an earlier post.

BTW, I had always heard that you were supposed to bleed the caliper farthest away from the Master Cylinder and work your way closer. This is contrary to Haynes, but I used the Haynes method on mine and got a solid brake pedal.

Finally, be careful with those bleeders and don't let the master cylinder empty. Not much force is needed to tighten the bleeder down and it IS EASY to break one off. Also, if you use the two man method, make sure the MC cap is on when the pedal is being pumped.

Good Luck.