[DeTomaso] Bleeding the clutch line

[Mike Thomas]

Doug and I just bled the clutch on 6328 tonight, and one thing, perhaps
mentioned below or prior, that made HUGE difference was jacking up the back
of the car to facilitate movement of the air out of the system.  We were
only making minimal progress until we did that, and the difference was
immediate.

Mike Thomas 

-----Original Message-----
From: detomaso-bounces at realbig.com [mailto:detomaso-bounces at realbig.com] On
Behalf Of JDeRyke at aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, July 27, 2011 11:56 AM
To: detomaso at realbig.com
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Bleeding the clutch line

With both brakes and clutch, its possible for your bleed nipple to fit
loosely in the slave cylinder (or in a caliper). Then when you loosen the
nipple a half-turn to allow fluid & air to come out, the flow will suck air
in around the threads. This complicates things and wastes time & brake
fluid. So before attempting to bleed anything, take ALL the nipples involved
competely out and wrap their threads with a couple of turns of teflon pipe
tape, then re-seat lightly. It's not necessary to jam the needle in with
mega- ft-lbs of torque! The tapered seat seals nicely with only light
tightening. I use a 1/4-drive socket to break the nipple loose first, then a
tiny open-end wrench for bleeding and tightening.

Speed-bleeders are a nice addition since their internal check-valve allows
one person to bleed brakes or clutch with a minimum of effort, confusion and
time. New Speed bleeder nipples have a coating of sealant on their threads
so you need not use teflon tape. However, the coating unfortunately only
lasts through the first bleed session (maybe the second if you're lucky). 

Finally, if you have trouble getting fluid (and air) out, it may be that the
poor system hasn't been bled since the Carter administration and a plug of
hard residue is lodged in the port. This might cause you to poke a wire in
or even DRILL out the port so fluid can flow. If you do attempt to drill out
a plug, remember to use a drill that fits the small fluid hole in the
bottom, not the thread size! Occassonally, the nipple is where the resiue
plug is lodged. Good luck- J Deryke
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