The rebirth of Lazarus

[Bryanj]

Bleed the master before connecting pipe.
Wearing gloves put finger over outlet hole and pull lever in release and reaply finger let lever go and reapply, repeat till pressure is felt under finger then whilst lever is held in use your third hand to fit and tighten hose and banjo bolt then try blleding at caliper.

This can take a while but has never failed for me, also cover everything you dont want fluid on!

[Nurse Julie]

not much happening as I have been ill for a couple of weeks, but still struggling with the front brake bleeding. all new or refurbished, hoses rubber seals etc but just will not bleed. I have tried all the usual methods with syringes  but no luck so getting really frustrated, even dismantled master cylinder in case i did something wrong.

Hope you're feeling better Mick. Did you fit a new pressure switch?. The reason I ask is that we bought a couple from David Silver last year and they were faulty. Graham almost sent himself doolally trying to bleed a front brake, all new parts and refurbed like yours, he kept swapping parts again and again with no luck. When he fitted the old switch, it bled up instantly. He tried the DS switch again on another bike and the same thing happened again, the system would not bleed. .

[mickwinf]

Hi Bryan I did try that method but didn't seem to build up any pressure.

[mickwinf]

Hi Julie, am feeling a bit better until my garage roofing felt went AWOL in the wind last night! It's the original pressure witch so hope that's not it.

[Oddjob]

Try this Mike. Only really works with rubber hoses not braided.

Get a brake clamp or failing that a pair of mole grips, clamp the rubber hose near the joint at the bottom yoke, before the joint not after. Try pumping the MC now, if it's solid then the problem lies below where you've clamped, if not the force will tend to blow any airlock back through the MC, you'll see bubbles appearing in the reservoir. When it's solid move the clamp down to below the bottom yoke, test again.. If solid, the problem is in the caliper. Now release the pressure on the clamp until you can just about pump the lever, this will force fluid past the clamp but not allow it back up the pipe. In this way you can force the caliper to fill up, release the bleed nipple a little to allow any trapped air to escape.

Never failed to work but as I said an only be done with rubber hoses, never tried it with braided as I was worried it would damage the braiding, it may work though

[Bryanj]

If bleeding at the master gets no pressure you will never bleed the full system i have had it take over 30 mins of trying before first pressure and then more to squirt forcibly.
You my be better off with one of Mr Silvers repo ones

[K2-K6]

As already noted, but version of the mc bleed, with banjo disconnected at mc, lid off, fill with fluid and it should just run out of banjo port without any lever movement at all.

If it doesn't leak out like this with lever in "home" position, then unlikely to fill the line easily when bleeding.

[mickwinf]

A couple of small victories today. The brake bleeding saga was solved by a new repro from silvers, still took a while but bled in the conventional way and a firm lever now. Also did a soldered repair on the tank, as the hole was only 2-3 mm it seems to be ok. De-rusting tank with phosphoric acid ready for paint, almost there!

[mickwinf]

While de-rusting the tank it revealed several more small holes around the reinforcing area where the rear tank mounting is. I have soldered them but still getting a small leak from somewhere inaccessible so am going to use a liner. Not ideal but it's my only option.

[Johnny4428]

Maybe safer when it’s a little “peppered” like that. Nothing more annoying than getting it all painted and finding further leaks!

[mickwinf]

the problem with the lining process is flash rusting before I can dry the tank out to line it. will try today.

[Johnny4428]

Race between heat and rust!😳 Hot water flush might speed up the drying?

[mickwinf]

Some more progress, tank has been lined with a two pack liner and painted with a layer of clear, then the stripes applied. Will lacquer over in next few days and finish the side panels. Almost there!

[DomP]

I used phosphoric acid to strip mine after first using electrolysis, it's meant to stop flash rusting.  I'll be honest I've not looked at it in a while😬

[mickwinf]

Exciting times, tank is painted and back on bike, one side panel has to be re done as I screwed it up. Some final things to do, chainguard is one of them as the original one is bent out of shape. I do have a 550 f chrome one but the chrome is beyond repair, but would paint up ok so might use that. Today I insured it so on the road soon!