that's it. I spent another 2 hours, removed mast double check every every part. pressure bled gets LOTS of air on every corner. real bad lots of air, bled again but with wify pushs pedal,
after 300 hours of work. it is now for sale , my mental heath is more important then this. 10,000 gets the car and it has running rebuilt engine and new frame. ready for paint. fu*k it.
Hi Mike,
I know this will be hard to believe from where you are but I'll bet every one of us on this forum has been in that position at some time or other. And not just the Europa, I've sat in the corner of the garage looking at plenty of cars and wondering where the matches are, so you're not alone here.
Lots of advice and I can't really add much other than;
1. I use clear plastic tubing on the bleed nipples with a non-return valve in the end. No reason other than it makes it easier for a one man job.
2. I made a stand that holds the bleed tube so that it rises upwards and forms a loop 3-4" above the bleed nipple. Easier to see air bubbles and they certainly ain't going to get sucked back into the caliper/cylinder against gravity.
3. I use PTFE threadseal tape (plumbers tape ?) on every nipple. It is easy to do as BDA says and draw air into the stream of fluid leaving the caliper, the tape usually stops that.
4. I have used a pressure bleeder as well as the traditional pedal pushing, I've had equal amounts of success or failure with either method.
5. From hazy memory I think when I had rear drums I used to pull the handbrake on before bleeding. My logic was that the piston travels to it's max on first push and should stay there during the process. Don't know if it made any practical difference, but I did it.
6. You might not like this one, but during my brake upgrade sessions I had a lot of trouble at one point so I pulled off the calipers and rotated them whilst bleeding. There is no logic behind that idea with this caliper design but.... I did get a single bubble out. Yes, I know it shouldn't, but it did. Whether it was rotating or just plain vibration/movement, but I definitely dislodged some air (probably in the caliper body) with that process.
Finally, if you've got a steady stream of air then there must be a leak somewhere. My bet would be bleed nipples but it could be anywhere. As you're obviously a handy guy with spanners I'd be tempted to block off the rear circuit by using bleed nipples in place of the bundy pipe and just bleed the front to see if you can get a good pedal there, maybe even start with one caliper.
Brian
ps - it's frustrating now but just think how good you're going to feel once it's done !
