Suspension Brakes 1st Gen Most liked posts in thread: Correct Brake Bleeder Valve Length? (speed bleeder)

how is that different from any other bleeder? You are "screwed" when any of them start leaking.

I have wobbly valves in there right now that will suck in huge air bubbles from the threads. At least with the speed bleeder, once properly thread sealed, I can do this job by myself.

Have them on the dark silver Mini and they work great. Stock bleeders on red Mini have so far cost me an extra 2 liters of ATE 200 fluid and the brakes are still soft.

 

good to know. Russell doesn't list Mini as a supported car in their application list, so I guess that is correct.

 

that's too easy

 

"Congratulations! Your order is in! We'll get your MINI goodies out to you ASAP."

Pulled the trigger on the DDMWorks intake while I was there - miss the sound of my super charger after my son swapped my intake with his stock intake one night I wasn't around to keep an eye on what he was doing in the garage... but he argued that due to my strut bar, the intake I had in there wasn't sealing.

Anyway, bleeders are probably not needed if I have help in he garage, and I do have a Motive power bleeder, so it's probably completely unnecessary. I just like them on the other car, and to keep things the same across cars, why not spend more money on the Mini?

It's spring and so far I've only spend about $1000 on both cars - gotta kick it up up to meet my annual quota

 

Could be, but it's the last thing I'll do (go to the dealership). I've bled the other car without any issue and haven't done anything different this time, other than swap hoses and introduce more air down the line. It's possible these bubbles went up and into the wrong place, but then I don't think that's necessarily the case. Just about all ABS pump dump valves are closed when the vehicle is not actively braking in ABS mode or hooked up to the service tool that forces them open. Usually the procedure to bleed the ABS pump is only used when the pump itself is exchanged.

When bleeding, my fluid reservoir never went dry, engine never powered up during bleeding, meaning all ABS valves are shut. nothing will go in and out. I think I have air in the lines, right in the calipers, primarily in the rear where every time I open the valves, I have huge bubbles coming out of the bleeder tube. Wiggle on valve stem and that air flow changes. That's 1/4 turn opened. Probably something where I could just pull the valve and put some plumbers Teflon tape on the threads. If it wasn't eating up so much expensive fluid, I'd do that next, but I figure if I am pulling the bleeder valves, just put in speed bleeders.

We'll get those brakes sorted eventually. Did my Tundra last summer and had the hardest time with unexpected rear backing plate rubbing issues and seized calipers, but zero issues bleeding that system, with ABS and massive calipers.

 

installed the new bleeder valves and properly pressure bled the system this weekend - all is good now. The only air that came out was right at the bleeder, after that I saw only a half dozen tiny air bubbles in the rear, none in the front. Still made a huge difference in how the brakes feel.

Building a home-made bleeder attachment that fits the Mini reservoir and doesn't leak while not costing $40 like the brand name part was the biggest effort in this project.

 

Now I have a second Mini to bleed - after a complete rear brake overhaul. Rotors, caliper rebuild (removing those parking cables is going to be the part I dread the most), stainless lines in back, all back together. I decided on Akebono pads for the rears, leaving the front Wilwoods alone for now unless the rotors measure closer to end of life than new, then I will have to spend even more money. Ah, only the best for a car I have driven less than 2000 miles in the last 12 months...

 

I can always put in the original plug screws should there be a problem, now that I have a functional pressure bleeder attachment for the car. The problems I had initially all had to do with the pedal pumping method we had to resort to because the generic attachment to the brake reservoir kept losing pressure.

My gray Mini has had speedbleeders installed for 6 or more years and they got used a lot by the previous owner who did some Autotcross. Still working fine, rock solid pedal, no leaks. Will be bleeding that car in a few days after doing the rear brakes this weekend.

Not sure what would fail other than the check valve not working when you do need them for a one person bleed job, though. They won't leak when tightened down like any other bleeder valve, as the cone shaped bottom seals the system below the fragile check valve mechanism.