Bleeding clutch system

[RICK LAKE]

DanEC Dan try this way Make sure full of fluid and not air or bubbles.
It's easier if you have the floor out but not required to see this. will need 2 people or a prop rod to hold the pedal down.
Press pedal and hold it. Crack bleeder. Fluid will come out until there is no force from the clutch fork on the slave and stop. You need to manually push the slave piston all the way back into the slave with the pedal on the floor and the bleeder crack. Tighten bleeder and release pedal slow. The fluid will be pulled from the holding tank. 2-3 times of doing this will give you a good pedal. After this, setup the linkage adjuster to the clutch. One side note. Don't mat the pedal to the floor after the bleeding is done. You can over extend the slave and have the fluid leak problem. A small block of wood works great to limit pedal travel. If you have room to see the disengagement of the clutch you want between .35"-.55" clearance of disc and pressure plate for clean release. This also helps get the correct linkage adjustment too. Rick L.

[DanEC]

Rick - I'll put this on my list of things to try if rotating the beeder valve up isn't a cure. I'll also watch the overstroke although with a scattershield it's a little difficult to check by clearance.

Originally Posted by RICK LAKE

DanEC Dan try this way Make sure full of fluid and not air or bubbles.
It's easier if you have the floor out but not required to see this. will need 2 people or a prop rod to hold the pedal down.
Press pedal and hold it. Crack bleeder. Fluid will come out until there is no force from the clutch fork on the slave and stop. You need to manually push the slave piston all the way back into the slave with the pedal on the floor and the bleeder crack. Tighten bleeder and release pedal slow. The fluid will be pulled from the holding tank. 2-3 times of doing this will give you a good pedal. After this, setup the linkage adjuster to the clutch. One side note. Don't mat the pedal to the floor after the bleeding is done. You can over extend the slave and have the fluid leak problem. A small block of wood works great to limit pedal travel. If you have room to see the disengagement of the clutch you want between .35"-.55" clearance of disc and pressure plate for clean release. This also helps get the correct linkage adjustment too. Rick L.

[DanEC]

Thanks all - gives me a few more things to try today.

[DanEC]

Bingo - Bleeder port was turned down. Details, details. Thanks for the tip Gaz64 - I should have been paying attention.

Now - new problem. I have a hard pedal but no stoke. Obviouisly I've got one of the cylinder pistons extended with fluid behind it. I doubt it's the slave cylinder siince I always had the push rod in place - but not sure. So how do I solve this problem in the easiest manner with the least DOT 3 spread around?

Thanks for the help and suggestions.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by DanEC

- but not sure.

If you have the slave bleeder screw open, and the tube on the bleeder, going in to a jar you can't miss telling that the master cylinder is squirting a nice flow of fluid when someone pumps the pedal. I mean you really can't miss it. It will be as plain and obvious as the nose on your face and that will tell you that the master cylinder is working right. If you can't get that far, then the problem is "upstream" from the slave cylinder.

[DanEC]

Originally Posted by patrickt

If you have the slave bleeder screw open, and the tube on the bleeder, going in to a jar you can't miss telling that the master cylinder is squirting a nice flow of fluid when someone pumps the pedal. I mean you really can't miss it. It will be as plain and obvious as the nose on your face and that will tell you that the master cylinder is working right. If you can't get that far, then the problem is "upstream" from the slave cylinder.

Actually, once I got the bleeder on top I opened it up and it started gravity feeder into the jar (with air) so well that I just short-stroked the clutch pedal shaft lever under the car (per Bob's Manual) and didn't have to touch the pedal. As noted that only took a couple minutes. Maybe I need to crack the bleeder port again and try stroking the pedal now. Holding the pedal down hard, there is still a little free play in the rod so I know it's not in the clutch itself.

[patrickt]

You probably don't need it, but here's a shot of mine for reference. Note that in this shot you can not see the ERA-supplied aluminum spacer between the slave bracket and the block. For perfect alignment, my setup required that.

[Gaz64]

Originally Posted by DanEC

Bingo - Bleeder port was turned down. Details, details. Thanks for the tip Gaz64 - I should have been paying attention.

Seen it before with brake calipers as well.

Good to hear you have sorted it out.