remote clutch bleeder

[weewillie]

has anyone ever made a remote clutch bleeder for their spridget?

 

[GB1]

I have drilled a hole in a spare cap and put a fitting on it. Hooked it up a compressor with about thirty pounds, and then opened the valve. Obviously you could only bleed the amount in the reseviour.

If you are a bit of a cartortionist (sp), You can depress the pedal and while holding it down, open and close the valve thru the passenger footwell. That is how I did my BE the last time. hehehe

 

[Westemp]

As of now, I've never experienced the "pleasure"of bleeding my clutch master cylinder....but I expect the job to be the same as bleeding the brakes. Would the same kit for the brakes not work for the clutch?

 

[weewillie]

what i want to do is screw a fitting +brake line into the clutch slave cyl bleeder and run it up to the firewall or fender somewhere and fit an adapter with a bleed screw on it.

 

[Trevor Jessie]

I think it is a sensible modification. I have seen it done to a few spridgets, and I may do it to my current project.

 

[Bugeye58]

I do that on mine, Willie. The bleed fitting is close enough to the master cylinder that I can operate the pedal from the outside, and work the bleed screw at the same time.
Piece of cake.
Jeff

 

[John Kuzman]

If you look back in the "Classifieds", about three months ago Doug Reid, aka Mr Finespanner at 18G Motorworks was offering such a device for the Big Healeys. Doug was, at least at that time, also looking into such a device for the spridgets. Contact Doug and ask him.

 

[Trevor Jessie]

One issue you might discover is that many aftermarket slave cylinders have different size bleeders. I think there are at least three different ones for a A-series.

 

[Bugeye58]

Willie, some quick snapshots.
Jeff

 

[DrEntropy]

*psst!* Jeff! Somebody sniped yer starter motor!

 

[weewillie]

that's exactly the sort of thing i was looking for, now off to the parts store. Thanks guys

 

[Bugeye58]

*psst!* Jeff! Somebody sniped yer starter motor!

Yeah, that was I. The Spit that I sold puked the starter the night before our last race weekend, so I stole the gear reduction starter from the Sprite. I better get it back soon!
Jeff

 

[bugimike]

An thas not all!!

 

[Bugeye58]

Hey, guys, it's a work in progress, OK? I'll finish it eventually! I see some of the Iridite isn't holding up well in the humidity. Maybe I should run a dehumidifier in the trailer.
Jeff

 

[Hap Waldrop]

I've got it on my race cars as well, I've made up a couple of them. The bonus to all this is when you make the remote line, the clutch will now bleed itself in a couple of minutes, instead of many, many minute and a headfull of brake fluid. Yes a very worthwhile mod in my opinion.

Dont worry about finding a flared fitting to go into the hole in the salve cylinder, I could never find one, I ended up with a straight non flared end going into the cylinder with a copper crush washer for a sealing then the an fitting on the other end, then used aeroquip teflon hoses, same as many use on the brake fles lines. On the bleeder end, you have a couple of choices, you can machine up a block with fitting on one end and the bleeder on the other or you can get a fitting that accept the bleeder directly into the line, hard to find, I found them at a place that sells formula vee stuff, I rember the name being DRE racing.

 

[jlaird]

Wonder what they used for fittings?

 

[Bugeye58]

Jack, if I recall, I used either a #4 AN union at the slave, or a #3 to #4 reducer. Use a copper crush washer for the seal there. I can't remember if the slave bleed fitting on this one was 3/8" x 24 or 7/16" x 20 thread. Obviously, use whichever size is appropriate. The line is standard 1/4" brake tubing, with a #4 AN sleeve and "B" nut on each end. The bleed screw setup I'm pretty sure I bought from Summit. You don't have to use a bleed screw, as I've seen it done with merely a plug in place of the bleed fitting.
As to the routing, that can be done anyway you see fit, but make sure to support the line to avoid vibration and breakage. You can see the standoff and Adel clamp that I used for that part.
It sure makes bleeding the clutch a snap.
Jeff

 

[Sarastro]

I see an advantage to this kind of upward-going bleeder tube that might not be obvious. One of the main problems in bleeding the clutch the standard way is the that you are trying to force bubbles downward, and if they don't get all the way out of the bleeding tube, they drift back up into the slave cylinder. With the upward-going tube, they don't do that.

A similar problem is the upward arch of the hydraulic line from the master cylinder to the slave. Because of this, bubbles tend to collect at the top of the arch. Getting rid of them requires pumping fluid downward and out, faster than the bubbles can come back up. I think this is one reason why people have so much trouble bleeding the clutch; you have to keep the fluid moving until all the air is gone.

 

[Bugeye58]

You're right. I've even installed a bleed fitting at the highest point of the line across the firewall on a couple of cars.
Jeff