Date:         Thu,  2 Mar 1995 15:35:32 -0500 (EST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Robert L. Armitage" <ra1d+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject:      Re: '66 Brake problem

Brake Bleeding simplified, for the creative lazy!


Problem:
Bleeding the damned things takes two people.

Solution:
Devise a single person bleeder.

Obvious answer:
Run out to the parts shop and throw $$$ at a power bleeder.

Buzs' solution  (Read: Cheap!)

Ingrediants:

1 mayonaise jar with a tight sealing lid.
20 feet of neoprene hose sized to fit your bleeder screw fittings
1 tube of RTV silicone rubber

Drill a couple of holes in the lid of the mayo jar so that the
hose JUST fits thru them tightly.

Cut 3~5 feet of hose off , and stick one end in the lid so that the
bottom of the hose JUST touches the bottom of the jar when the lid
is installed

Insert the remaining piece of hose through the lid so that the end
of the  hose just protrudes the lid... an inch at most.

Liberally smear RTV  around the inside and outside of the junctions
where the hoses pass through the lid.

Let the whole schmear dry several hours at least.....

Procedure:

Fire up the engine.  Imagine!  a near-free vacuum source!
Take the long hose and attach it to the vacuum port on yer engine
(mayhaps the one that used to drive the vacuum diaphram on that old
distributer before you installed a Bosche 009)

Attach the short hose to the bleeder screw

Fire up the engine (make sure that the hose attached to the engine is NOT
the one that touches the bottom of the jar!  You don't want brake fluid in
your engine!

Make sure the master cylinder reservoir is full, then crack the bleeder
screw loose...  You can tell when the line is bled when you no longer
see bubbles coming out of the bottom of the hose
(it's on the bottom of the jar, remember?)



Enjoy!