Bleeding brakes on Unique-Help

[Joe Prochazka]

To bleed the back brakes on my Unique I disconnected the front adjusting rod and bleed the brakes using the two man system and had no problem.

On the front brake brakes I disconnected the back adjusting rod and did a gravity feed and then did the usual pump and crack the bleeder on the caliper and could never seem to get all of the air out and had a spongy pedal. After running quite a bit of fluid through the lines with no luck I disconnected the flex line on the right side and blocked off the brake line with a plug and bled just the left wheel and got a hard pedal. I then blocked off the left wheel where the flex line connects and got a hard pedal with just the right wheel connected. But when I connect both front wheels I can't get rid of the spongy pedal.

By isolating each wheel I am proving out the master cylinder and that respective caliper, right? What am I missing?

[Cobra20646]

Joe,

That's a good way to prove everything is working. But when you disconnect and reconnect fluid lines, your going to introduce some air into the system. You didn't mention re-bleeding them after the individual wheel cylinder tests, but my gut feeling is you still have some air in the lines. Did you try bleeding the longest line run first? Usually the right front.

If you're still having trouble, try the vacuum method, that worked for me better than the 2 man pump and hold method.

- Jim -

[Joe Prochazka]

Thanks, Jim

I have talked to Alan Weaver and I also have a call in to Wilwood to see if they have any ideas.

I did rebleed the front lines after I reconnected them and still had a spongy pedal. It feels like air but it seems odd to me that when I block off each wheel the sponginess goes away and then comes back when reconnected.

I may try the vacuum method after I see what Wilwood has to say.

[Kirby Nelson]

Joe: I hate to even mention this, but if you have the 4-piston calipers, you have two bleeder screws per caliper. YOu must bleed both inside and outside separately. Just a thought. Alan probably mentioned this already. Good luck, Kirby Nelson

[hound dog]

Kirby,
Good little piece of info. I will be bleeding brakes in a week or so and I probably would have completely missed the fact that there is a bleeder on the bottom.
Joe,
Did you get your brakes fixed yet?
h dog

[Joe Prochazka]

Kirby-
Yes, I did bleed both sides of the cailper as well as the bottom 2 bleeders. I tried the vacuum method as well.

H dog-
The brakes are bled and I guess the ultimate test will be when I go for the first hard stop. Probably in about 1 month.

What I did was exchange the clutch and the front brake master cylinder, they are both identical but Willwood seem to think that maybe I had a defective master cylinder and when I exchanged the two I got a better pedal so I am leaving it at that.

Alan seemed to think that when the rear brakes are hooked up with the balance bar and brake bias is adjusted that the car will stop well. We'll see.

Thanks for the replies.

Joe

[Bruce Botti]

Joe,
How are you?

On the fronts, you only need to bleed the top bleeders on the calipers.

Alan is right, once you have the brake bias adjusted they will stop fine. Also, for the first few miles, they will feel a bit lethargic as they seat in.

One thing I noticed is that they feel different because we are used to cars with over-boosted brake systems. After putting on a few "careful" miles you will notice that they stop fine, but require more leg effort.

Take care,
Bruce

[Whaler]

Joe....I know this is history by now, but can I ask, did you have floor mounted masters/pedals?
If so, did you have 2# residual valves piped into each cct?

Tim