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Petcock is not necessary.  In fact, it might get in the way, unless it's up near the tank.

Yeah.......   Don't over-think this.  It's pretty simple.  All those "additions" that people come up with either over-complicate things or.......    Leak.  Leaking brake fluid anywhere other than the floor is a BIG no-no.

Remember, when you do the bleeding, that will "overfill" the reservoir up to the cap.  When done, move the tank to the floor beside the car and release the pressure down there.  That will gravity syphon the excess fluid out of the reservoir down to the bottom of that little tube mentioned above (end of page 1) which should be right at the fill mark if you measured the tube right.  Once the fluid has leveled at the "fill" mark, remove the bleeder cap and put the regular cap on and you're done (except for discarding whatever fluid is in the tank and drain cups).

Last edited by Gordon Nichols

So I played with it,and when I did I found it hard to attach the cap unto the reservoir with a long hose attached to it.

My initial try with the white metal unit would of worked but it is not an M connector for the quick connect so since I had M connnectors I swapped it for the M gold coloured and the 1/4 to 1/8 reducer is on the inside of the cap and the threads hold the small piece of tubing. 

You can see the quick connect is now in the cap and you now screw the cap on the reservoir, and attach the hose via the quick connector which is going to the pressure tank. Btw,  the cap has enough extra hose to leave the fluid below the fill mark when your done with the bleed. As per Gordo, (I could adjust the height to perfect level, on the day of) 

This makes even easier than the Manufacturered cap they sell for $40  

 

 

 

 Brake final Brake fittng capBrake initial Brake inside capBrake on reservoir

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  • Brake fittng cap
  • Brake initial
  • Brake inside cap
  • Brake final
  • Brake on reservoir

Here is the finished product. the tank comes alone, and the hose has an NPT 1/4 female cramped to the line. 

You then attach any adapter to fit your intended vehicle.

So my hose attached with a male NPT 1/4 lengthens it by 3 feet and has a Female Spring click quick connector at the end. 

This way you attach the cap to the reservoir and then attach the tube end which has the male Quick connector and your away. 

Making the ending tube is not expensive except the air hose fitting come in a pack so I now have spare parts.  

Gordon's idea with the sprayer if you have one lying around is excellent. I just had none hanging around.  

I'll let you know how the Bleed goes...  I meant brake bleed, thank God we are no longer blood letting as a medical treatment.  Old habits dye slowly in healthcare, the last frontal lobatomy was performed in 1971! 

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  • mceclip0

Brake fluid change done.  My first with the help of a friend. 

I did the Bfluid change and it started off well when I had a bit of pressure but fortunately a friend of mine came to help so while he opened and closed the bleed screws I monitored the fluid level.   I had really done a lot to prevent damage to the car by protecting pretty much the whole front. 

Unfortunately, as we got going we had some leakage at the plug with 8lbs of pressure on the guage, even with teflon taping the reservoir etc.   I managed to wrap enough cloths to contain it while he hurried to do the bleed and fluid replacement wheel to wheel.  When it was all done I disconnected everything.  

I was happy to get it all done but had some clean up to do. 

I will need to look into a better cap setup for the next time. 

Thank you all for you help.

 

Last edited by IaM-Ray

I had to replace the reservoir on my Speedy and acquired one from JBugs that was supposed to be the same except for the barbs being at an angle instead of pointing straight down. No big deal, I had to relieve some of the fiberglass with a Dremel coarse sandpaper wheel where the reservoir is mounted in the frunk so I could attach the German rubber woven brake line with small clamps.  I went to attach my Motive 0104 Air-Cooled Brake bleeder that I used on the old reservoir to the new one, the filler hole on the new reservoir is minutely smaller than the old one and the cap from the bleeder to the reservoir won't screw on and seal, it is just a smidge too large. Funny thing is that the cap from the old reservoir does fit tightly on the new reservoir so I am making that into a cap for the bleeder system.

Every small change seems to drive another issue!

Panhandle Bob posted:

I had to replace the reservoir on my Speedy and acquired one from JBugs that was supposed to be the same except for the barbs being at an angle instead of pointing straight down. No big deal, I had to relieve some of the fiberglass with a Dremel coarse sandpaper wheel where the reservoir is mounted in the frunk so I could attach the German rubber woven brake line with small clamps.  I went to attach my Motive 0104 Air-Cooled Brake bleeder that I used on the old reservoir to the new one, the filler hole on the new reservoir is minutely smaller than the old one and the cap from the bleeder to the reservoir won't screw on and seal, it is just a smidge too large. Funny thing is that the cap from the old reservoir does fit tightly on the new reservoir so I am making that into a cap for the bleeder system.

Every small change seems to drive another issue!

Bob, do you know the size of the 0104 cap?  Is it made out of metal? 

I had to use teflon to seal it then it oozed out of the top.  I was glad we were two guys.

This whole Motive system seems like a solution in search of a problem. So you spent all this money and it leaks? And then you have to buy extra adapters to do the job?

Don't you guys have a spouse, friend, or relative? The rest of the world does and has the darn thing finished bleeding already while you guys futz with leaks.

I bleed my clutch by myself. I use a broom handle on the clutch and work the wrench on the bleeder with the other. For brakes I have a wife, two kids, and a handful of good friends close by.

Last edited by DannyP

When I first started working on School bus brakes, oh, maybe 1960 or so, it was a two-person job and the rear bleeders were waaaaay back there so there was a certain amount of yelling back and forth to the "driver" for "UP!"......."Down!" on the pedal to sync with closing/opening of the bleeder.  That's how I bled the brakes on Pearl the first few times and had a wife and kids to depend on for the legwork.  The process worked well and seemed fool-proof enough for us but it was time-consuming and tedious.  For a single person job on a school bus it would have required one helluva long broomstick with multiple bends to get from here to there.   

Then my Dad was talked into a metal tank, pressure bleeder from "Snap-On Eddie", our local Snap-On guy, that included reservoir adapter covers for just about anything.  The GM/Ford/IH adapters were simple metal plates with rubber on one side that fit in place of the baled cover on the fluid reservoir, had some way of securing it to the reservoir (usually just the bale wire but sometimes screw-down attachments) and a quick disconnect for the fluid tube.  That was a work-life changing moment.  Now, we could bleed the entire system in less than 1/4 the time, with a single person and no brake pedal pumping.  Eureka!  The only issue was with the GM reservoir which had a gasket for the cover that was formed with pockets in it so sometimes when you put the cover back on after bleeding it would force a bunch of fluid out.  THAT was cured with a Turkey Baster to suck some of the fluid out of the reservoir before installing the cover.  No big deal.

Even with that system we sometimes got leaks with the adapter plates or, if it was a screw-on cap like on my brother's BMW or Mini with the rubber washer inside of the cap, but any of those were easily replaced so that system lasted for over 30 years.  I had already made my home-built bug sprayer bleeder by the time I cleaned out my Dad's old shop getting it ready to sell, but I found that old Snap-On bleeder, with much of the paint peeling off from brake fluid spilled on it over the years, and a box of adapters, some used a lot and some never used at all, sitting high on a shelf in a shop closet.  Couldn't find anyone interested in it (it did look a little rough, for sure) so it ended up at the scrap metal salvage yard, along with 6 other loads of thrown out stuff from the shop.  Made me feel like the story of the brave little toaster.

@DannyP posted:

This whole Motive system seems like a solution in search of a problem. So you spent all this money and it leaks? And then you have to buy extra adapters to do the job?

Don't you guys have a spouse, friend, or relative? The rest of the world does and has the darn thing finished bleeding already while you guys futz with leaks.

I bleed my clutch by myself. I use a broom handle on the clutch and work the wrench on the bleeder with the other. For brakes I have a wife, two kids, and a handful of good friends close by.

I'm with Danny. Nothing beats "the buddy system."  I've used about 4 different bleeders, from the simple tube with a one-way valve, to a MityVac, to the Motive bleeder, to a vacuum pump on the other end.  Every single one required a buddy pumping the pedal to finish them off.

When I redid my M/Cs, I used the Motive Bleeder on the reservoir and my Wurth vacuum on the other end. Luckily, the Tilton reservoirs I installed had the same size cap as the Motive came with, so I didn't need to Rube Goldberg anything up. (It fits most Ate/Girling reservoirs) Still required my son to get the last little bit of air out.

TBH, the thing that motive really shines at is filling rear ends/transaxles with gear lube. Just make sure you do it on a warm day.

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