RE: Cheapass Ron's Pressure Bleeder

[Ron Pieper <rapieper@yahoo.com>]

Me?  Swellheaded about being a cheapass?  You
underestimate my experience.  For every five cheapass
tricks I try, only one works well enough to share, and
this is one of them.  I've failed far too many times
to be swellheaded!  Let's just say that this is an
opportunity to be giver rather than a taker, AFA
internet experience-sharing.

Sometimes things just don't make sense for the @ $$
spent, but I never go cheap on car parts, handtools,
or time (depending on priorities).

The presta valve idea is a good one.  In retrospect it
would have worked to pressurize the bottle (I was
thinking bike pump to pressurize the bottle but there
I was in Sears, and the sprayer was too obvious and
too cheap).  Besides, presta valves are bike-think,
schraeder valves are more car-think, and I was in car
mode.  

Ron

PS:  I've never used sew-ups, I was a clincher guy
from way back.  


-- Antaki <wrack@home.com> wrote:
> From one Ron to another:
> 
> I have the Motive Products' brake bleeder, and heve
> looked at making my own
> from the same parts as you did. The only serious
> problem I had with doing so
> is that I bought the Motive product first. Oh, well.
> 
> But, don't get all swell-headed about being such a
> cheapass; I made several
> prototype DIY pressure bleeders, using a tin quart
> brake fluid can, bicycle
> pump. I used the replacement Presta valves that may
> still be available, they
> are meant to be bolted onto a bicycle tire tube to
> replace one that had
> failed. (If interested, ask me how to replace the
> whole tube in a sew-up
> tire w/o ripping it open more than 2".)
> 
> This worked, but not all that well, so I was
> delighted to see the Motive
> bleeder. Afterwards, whilst walking through the OSH
> Hardware store isle I
> saw the small sprayer, groaned, and had a sudden
> urge to go out to the
> parking lot and bleed somebody's brakes.
> 
>  R    ô¿õ
>  o
> Antaki
> 
>  - There's a little Quayle in that Bush...thank God.
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: owner-scirocco-l@scirocco.org
> > [mailto:owner-scirocco-l@scirocco.org]On Behalf Of
> Ron Pieper
> > Sent: Sunday, November 05, 2000 8:16 AM
> > To: scirocco-l@scirocco.org
> > Subject: Cheapass Ron's Pressure Bleeder
> >
> >
> > After reading how folks drooled over the Motive
> Power
> > Bleeder, and reading how some Volvo guy made his
> own,
> > I figured this wasn't rocket science and therefore
> > within my grasp.  Being a cheapass, here's what I
> did:
> >
> > -Bought a Sears 1 gal. Polyethelyne Sprayer
> (711511)
> > $15
> > -About 3' 5/16" clear tubing and two little hose
> > clamps (about a buck total).  Use enough tubing to
> fit
> > from the M/C to the tank as it sits on the ground.
> > -one tire valve (free, laying around)
> > -one spare brake master cylinder cap (free from a
> bud)
> >
> > The sprayer comes with a hose attached to a
> trigger
> > valve, to which a wand fits.  I shortened that
> hose to
> > about 8" and cut the wand down to 1".  Put the
> 5/16"
> > hose over the shortened wand and clamped.
> >
> > Took the M/C cap and removed the float and sensor
> > guts. The remaining hole is too big for the tire
> valve
> > so I cut a disk from the bottom of an old 5 gal.
> > bucket, drilled a hole in the center, and inserted
> the
> > disk into the cap.  Pulled the tire valve through
> the
> > hole.  Used the old M/C cap gasket.  Now I had a
> M/C
> > cap with a tire valve sticking out the top! 
> Revmoved
> > the valve part and connected the other end of the
> > 5/16" hose.
> >
> > Put one qt. brake fluid into the sprayer, pumped
> it up
> > lightly, and connected the m/c cap to the master
> cyl.
> >
> > Cracked loose a bleed nipple and checked the
> pressure
> > with a fuel pressure gage...about 20 or so psi.
> > Attached my normal clear line to the nipple and
> let
> > the fluid run until clear...what a breeze!  I
> didn't
> > even have to remove the wheels, just crawled under
> and
> > away I went.
> >
> > The whole operation (after I got the parts) took
> about
> > an hour and fifteen minutes, including the
> bleeding.
> >
> > Improvement possibility:  drill a hole into the
> tank
> > and fit a tire valve, so the tank pressure can be
> > checked with a tire gage.
> >
> > Good luck,
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > =====
> > Ron
> > '87 16V (Victor, the Famous Cheap Scirocco)
> > '93 Cab (soon for sale)
> > many, many, miles and busted knuckles on about
> seven or so past
> > watercooleds...
> >
> > __________________________________________________
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> 


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