SW20 brakes

[Dell'Orto]

Hmm, I had my brakes flushed last week, and a few black bits were coming out...now they feel a tad spongy, and need to be pumped to work decently.
Main question is: Are NA master cylinders the same as turbo ones? As I think my one may have lost bits of seals when it was flushed

[Malcolm]

might not have been properly bled? I had to bleed mine 3 times to get them non-spongy

[RomanV]

IIRC, the Japanese SW20s had identical brakes between the turbo and NA.

Do you have ABS?

You've got the gen2+ brakes as well, dontcha?

might be a good time to find a gen2+ master cylinder.

*stares at gen2+ ABS master cylinder that I cant use because I dont have ABS*

Also, (IIRC) when bleeding mine, I found that I had to tilt the calipers upsidedown to get the air bubbles out of them. As there is a space above the brake hose where air can get trapped.
Took a while to figure this out though.

[Dell'Orto]

Yeah, I do have ABS...I think they're the gen 1 rotors, poxy 258mm fronts
And dammit, I've just about sold the thing too - so close!

Oh Malcolm, they werent bled, I cheated and went to a garage and used their vaccum lines and suctioned out the old fluid and drew the new stuff through, hence why I think the seals might have packed up....too long sitting doing nothing might have made them brittle or something.

[Adamal]

And dammit, I've just about sold the thing too - so close!

Dream on!!!!!

And it sounds as if you've got an air bubble in the system somewhere if they're spongey. What DOT rating brake fluid did you replace it with?

[KinLoud]

Using vacuum systems to change brake fluid can stuff things up!
The vacuum can suck air into the system past seals.... you probably have a bumper crop of air in your brake lines and cylinders.
Don't cheat, don't be lazy. Get someone to help you by pumping the pedal while you work the bleed nipples.
I bleed my brakes in my (6 at the moment) cars.
I start with slow pumps of the pedal, closing the bleed nipple at the bottom of each stroke. Once new clear fluid appears and there is just the occaisional small bubble of air, I go to fast strokes. Pump up the pedal and then open the bleed nipple quickly so the fluid rushes out.
In between I tap the caliper with a small hammer or spanner, this is to loosen any air bubbles that might be sticking to the inside of the caliper.
If you need to use a couple of bottles of brake fluid just do it! Don't try to get away with one bottle if it's nearly empty and you think you are almost finished.
Use good brake fluid, I use 5.1. Make sure it is fresh, opened for the first time just before you use it!

Ken
Ham
021 408 863

[opticalblue]

Theres nothing wrong with vacuum brake bleeders as they are used in workshop... im sure if there was something wrong with them they wouldnt be using.. the only problem with vacuum bleeders is that sometimes the work soo good they usually run the master cylinder out of fluid and they just top them up with out bleeding out the air gap generated but running out of fluid... with all my cars ive owned ive used vacuum bleeder and man it the best and quickest way of bleeding the brakes...

[Dell'Orto]

Adamal - STFU. I used dot 5.1 as well, and of course new bottles of the stuff

Ken - but it was sooooo much quicker took like 10 minutes to do the entire car...a hoist helped that too of course. I've always done the fluid manually on other cars, but like I said, I was being lazy.
Oh well, I'll have a crack at bleeding them manually and see how it all goes - will let you know.
PS anyone wanna come help me? Stupid fridays off, everyone else is still at work

[Malcolm]

PS anyone wanna come help me? Stupid fridays off, everyone else is still at work

Sure, bring it up to Auckland, I'm free this afternoon