Subject: Vmax Spongy clutch lever. I want to thank Justin Lassy, Mario Cesar Aguiar, Richard Castillo, Terry Hayden, and Scott Weatherwax for their help in solving my soft clutch problem. Since I was going to have the slave cylinder off I replaced the seals in it. I think it was leaking anyway. I filled up the cylinder with fluid before I put it back in. Then I pumped up the clutch lever while at the same time I opened up the bleed valve so that there was no pressure building up. When I no longer was getting any bubbles I started to close the bleeder up to build up some pressure and then I would bleed the line. This seemed to release the rest of the air bubbles that were trapped in the cylinder. I now have a solid clutch lever. Thanks for all of your help. Brian Doody VMOA # 375. ------------- Subject: Re: Weak front brakes Message-ID: <3634DCC9.13D98558@riordanco.com> I have found the front brakes very time consuming to bleed to get ALL the air out. Try it again and let a few minutes go between "bleedings" for the air bubbles to settle out. Jim Riordan --------------- Also, be gentle, a big mistake when bleeding is to be to fast and aggresive on the brake lever. It has a tendancy to aerate the fluid and like Jim says takes time to settle out. -- Paul Sayegh --------------- Subject: Re: Weak front brakes Message-ID: <199810270014.QAA19843@avocet.prod.itd.earthlink.net> Hi all, Paul was correct. I replaced my brake lines ~ 1 year ago. I replaced mine before the lines lost their resiliency. But I did notice a fairly noticeable difference as soon as they were swapped out. The lines I purchased were FastLine. They are manufactured by Russell I believe. So far I have done the front brakes and the clutch. I will do the rears as soon as I have some $$$ to burn. I reality the rears really don't need the lines because I rarely use them and in a panic situation. I grab a hand full of front brakes. If I were to do that on the rears the back would lock up......Bad Juju! So the only valid reason to use them on the rears IMHO is for looks only. As for the bleeding, the front brakes were a real pain in the butt. The clutch was a piece of cake and took only 45 minutes total. If I were to do it again I would spend the $25.00 on the Mighty Vac. This little gem is worth it's weight in gold. Scott H. ---------- Arnold when you bleed the front and the clutch, look in the bottom of the resevior there is a metal strip that you need to remove while bleeding. It will trap air under it and make bleeding fustrating. You can take a small rag and place over the top to keep excess from going all over the place. Take the ends and place them in a clean container with fluid in it and pump to remove the air out of the master cylinder. The clutch will bleed easier tha the front with only one cylinder. Don "Old Man" Smith ------------- Arnold: For $ 24 get yourself a Mytivac, and the bleeding process will be done in a matter of minutes, it's simple, no spills and the results are great. -------------- Scott, a couple of things. Go to http://www.sayegh.org/images/Paul/mityvac1.jpg or http://www.sayegh.org/images/Paul/Mvc-004f.jpg These are vacuum units that you hook to your open bleeder screw while gently pumping your brake lever. If you pump too fast you will "aerate" the system and will have to wait till the bubbles go away. You can make one or buy a mityvac One of the best suggestions I have seen on this topic was this...by Bob >A little trick can save you hours. You can prefill the lines by working >backwards. Start at the bleeders on the calipers or the clutch either one. >Get a Plews piston can oiler (about 3 bucks at any discount auto store) and >a piece of clear plstic tubing to fit the end of the oiler and bleader >valves. Fill the oiler with brake fluid and crack the >bleader just enough to allow you to pump fluid UP into the resevor. >After you start getting a level in the resevor fill it up and continue to >bleed the system in the normal manner. Bob H