Date: Sat, 6 Dec 1997 09:51:42 +0000
Reply-To: vwbus@POP.MINDSPRING.COM
Sender: Vanagon mailing list <Vanagon@Gerry.SDSC.EDU>
From: John Anderson <vwbus@POP.MINDSPRING.COM>
Subject: Re: clutch master cylinder
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
> At risk of referring to the wrong generation of vanagon, I can address the
> bleeding. I suspect that yours is not a waterboxer since you have a
> Haynes. Mine is an '85 GL.
>
They are the same '81-'91
> I had no particular difficulty with the replacement. The Bentley says a
> power bleeder is necessary. Not having one, I just pumped the pedal a lot
> at the beginning to get things started ... perhaps twenty press/open
> bleed/close bleed/release cycles. A two person operation for sure. After
> these initial cycles to get the first fluid flowing, the thing bled as
> expected.
>
Mike was a bit lucky, sometimes no problems, other times priming the
cylinder itself is a real chore, my personal suggestion is that a
Mity-Vac sets you back a whopping $20 at Walmart and is sort of neat
to have round anyway. With the Mity-Vac it becomes a one person
operation though 2 is easier. With one, you open the slave, pump the
Mity-Vac up real hard then run up and pump the pedal. Actual
installation is a joke, having done bunches of these it is simple
bolt out, bolt in up front, lay down a good sized old towel under the
area first and siphon the resevoir (Mity-Vac) below the level of the clutch
feed, though what is stuck in the rather large hose is still likely
to get you. Hardest part is generally getting that feed hose off the
back of the old cylinder, sometimes it comes out with the rubber
grommet which can be locked by age on the plastic nipple, sometimes
the hose comes off the nipple. Only takes a 13mm wrench and maybe a
12mm? flare wrench, I got a weird feeling the clutch fittings are
just a bit bigger than the usual brake line nuts, but 11mm or 12mm to
be sure. On reinstallation, start the two 13mm bolts but leave them
with lots of play until you get the hydraulic line started and
snugged, a lot easier always to start flare connections if you can
align the part to the hose instead of the hose to the part. And note
that you can tighten or loosen the upper bolt a lot easier if the
pedal is dead and can stay down so crack the system or pull the fill
hose first for convenience. Ron's price is exceptional on the
cylinder though the price is ludicrous for what you get (not his
fault), you used to be able to get rebuild kits for about $20 but the
master was particularly hard to rebuild (small highly contoured cup
seal hard to stretch without a coned tool), and assumed that it wasn't
badly corroded.
John
vwbus@netbiz.net
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