That said, according to the FFO2016 rules for the Autocross event, brake fluid should be less than two months old. I figured if I was taking off wheels to change brake fluid and bleed the lines, then I might as well get to some other brake stuff I had: stainless steel flex lines for front and rear; new one-person bleeder valves (presumably with a one way valve); EBC Green Stuff front performance pads. I would give the sliders and pads a once over, too, to service and lubricate them. I was hoping to get some extra performance out of the brakes since I was really going to put them to the test.
After I disconnected the hard line from the Rear Left caliper I discovered that the stainless steel hoses would'nt fit. Some sort of adapter is needed and I didn't have the right thread -- if it fit at the hard line it didn't fit at the hose and vice versa. I gave up on it, serviced the caliper sliders while I was there, and figured 70% of braking is done by the front anyway, so maybe I could make some gains there.
At the driver's front I couldn't loosen the hard line from the rubber flex line and wasn't anxious to break anything so I didn't push it. I thought my new EBC Green Stuff brake pads might make for a nice performance boost instead (everybody says so!) and since they take about 1,000 miles to really break them in, a drive to Detroit might actually do the trick...
No luck. They are just too wide and I couldn't fit the caliper over them. Maybe if I used a c-clamp on the piston, but I was hoping for a straight fit. Even when removing the metal backing plate it was still too tight a fit. Upgrade abandoned.
Finally, I had been installing new one-way valve bleeder screws, which is supposed to make for an easy one-man operation since they can't suck air back into the line. Turns out it wasn't so great. One of them fit ever so slightly differently than the original bleeder screw but I couldn't tell at first since I ran into another problem: I couldn't get the rear brakes bled effectively and the pedal was always going to the floor. The fronts I could bleed, but the rears were a challenge. Nothing was getting pushed out -- brake fluid or air. Even my neighbour was stymied (he's a very handy car guy that helped me pull the head -- he used to own a 124 Spider years ago). I eventually retraced my steps and discovered that it was an issue with the hard line I had disconnected. Reconnecting it led to success and I could even hear the master cylinder refill. No wonder I couldn't build any pressure! Finally I was having success bleeding the Rear Left (this after a long day messing about), when suddenly the Rear Right seemed to spring a leak -- I could hear brake fluid dribbling. Oh no!
It turns out the new bleeder screw was always still bleeding out the top, no mater how hard I tightened it. Worried I had stripped the threading in the caliper, I tried one of the old bleeders. Same problem. Another old bleeder -- same problem! I just couldn't stop it leaking. At one point I even took out my tap and die set and was ready to re-thread the caliper, but thankfully fate prevented me from doing that because I couldn't get a proper angle for the tool (I couldn't take off the caliper completely as I couldn't get the hose undone at the bottom).
After literally hours of a drip-drip-drip I resolved that I would have to get a bleeder screw welded closed and use that, and do my best with a less than perfect bleeding by quickly tightening up the welded screw.
I just so happened to look at the bleeder screws one more time (this around midnight, after having started late afternoon) and, lo and behold, noticed that one screw's base was ever so slightly taller than the others. This might make the difference! Sure enough, I tried it, and the dripping stopped. I almost couldn't believe it! Even an 1/8th of a turn was enough to have it start again, but at least I could close this one, unlike any other of the bleeder screws.
Lesson learned: leave well enough alone! Instead of a bleeding that should have taken not more than 15 minutes once wheels were off with the stock bleeders, I ended up messing about with new bits which led to a day of despair. Had I not touched the hard lines, or the new bleeder screws I could have been done in no time flat.
Still, I did have a few successes: all calipers and sliders have been serviced, which I think was a real benefit, especially for the Front Right; I confirmed that a dash board safety lamp comes on for failed brakes (in typical Italian fashion, it lights up about half a second after you have already figured it out because of slamming the brake pedal to the floor); I discovered the merits of a very powerful new LED lamp that I just bought.
Earlier in the week I also put on some shiny new bits from Allison's Automotive:
I particularly like the aluminum coolant reservoir. A new Abarth sticker is coming for the oil cap too, as I messed up the old one prying it off at one point.
Now time for rest -- I will put the wheels on in the morning!
Cheers,
phaetn
