This is the EXACT text of an article by a person named Jay Tilton on how
to build an Eezibleed. The original web site that I found these
instructions on was
http://fbox.vt.edu:10021/J/jtilton/mg/eeziblee.html. The title of the
page was Jay's MGB - Tech - Homebrew Eezibleed. The date I printed my
copy was 6/12/97. From this point on the work is not mine and should be
considered the property of the original writer (wherever he is). If he
reads this, I am sorry for not obtaining permission, but I have no way
of knowing how to contact him.
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Build your own Eezibleed for less than $10
[Pretend there's a photo of the Gunson Eezibleed here.]
[Now pretend there's a photo of the Bogus Eezibleed here.]
Introduction
Would you like to have that Eezibleed you've seen in catalogs? Do you
have trouble justifying spending $40 for it and waiting a week to
receive it?
Me too.
I copied the design using things readily available at hardware, grocery,
and auto parts stores. I spent less than seven dollars in cash and two
hours in assembly. (Can I get a "Yay. Dremel!")
For those not familiar with Eezibleed, it's an apparatus designed to
make bleeding brakes a one-person task. It uses air pressure from your
spare time to pressurize the fluid reservoir. Air, water, and old fluid
your brake system are automatically purged when you open a bleed
nipple. There's no need for an assistant to sit in the cockpit and pump
the brake pedal.
I've heard comments on problems with he real Eezibleed. It comes with a
collection of caps to fit most any reservoir, but it seems the caps
usually don't fit tight enough, so they tend to pop themselves off. My
design doesn't have that problem, since you'll be using an actual cap
from you reservoir.
Shopping list
1. Extra cap for brake fluid reservoir (or clutch fluid reservoir)
Don't plan on using the one in service on the car, since you're
going to need to punch a hole in it. (I got lucky. Both the brake
and clutch reservoir on my 77 B use the same cap, and I had an
extra sitting around.)
2. Clear vinyl tubing, two feet (you may want yours to be longer),
$.78
I used 1/2-inch OD, 5/16-inch ID because it had to fit a hole I'd
already punched in the reservoir cap in an aborted design. You can
get away with tubing much smaller than that. Something like
3/16-inch will work peachy.
3. Rubber grommets, two, $.70
The rubber grommets should fit tightly around whatever size tubing
you're using.
4. Tire valve stem, rubber, two-pack for $1.99, but you'll need
only one.
5. Bottle or jar of some sort
-A mayonnaise jar or screw-top mason jar will seal very well
and hold a good amount of pressure, but handling glass is
risky when you might have brake fluid on your hanks. PLus
you'd have to finish the mayonnaise first. (Bleagh!)
-A one-quart Rubbermaid screw-top drink bottle will seal well
and won't break if dropped, but will balloon a bit under
pressure. A bottle like this cost me $1.99. The lid already
had one hole, presumably for drinking, that fit my tubing
nicely.
6. Bicycle pump
I saw no compelling reason to use a spare tire to pressurize the
system when I I could pressurize it directly. Using and air
compressor is not recommended!
7. The tube and catch reservoir upi usually use to bleed brakes.
I use a length of small-diameter clear vinyl tubing and a peanut
butter jar. (Hooray for smashed goobers!)
Assembly
1. Cut a hole in the bottle lid so that you can press the valve
stem in from the bottom. Cut another hole in the lid to fit the
grommet tightly, and an identical hole in the reservoir cap(s).
Make sure these holes are no larger than necessary, since the
system needs to be airtight.
2. Press the valve stem and grommet into their holes in the bottle
lid, and press the outer grommet into the hole in the reservoir
cap.
3. Press the tubing into the grommets in the bottle lid and cap.
A little soapy water will help them slide in easily. You want one
end of the tube to reach the bottom of the bottle, and the other
end to barely dip into the fluid reservoir. The idea here is that
the fluid being flushed from your hydraulics will be automatically
replenished from the bottle.
4. Wash everything out and let it all dry thoroughly. You don't
want to introduce any metal/plastic shavings or water into your
hydraulics.
Testing
1. Top up your reservoir with fresh brake fluid, and fill the
bottle about halfway.
2. Screw the lid tightly onto the bottle, and screw the reservoir
cap tightly onto the reservoir.
3. Find a convenient spot in your engine bay to perch the bottle.
If your tubing is long enough you can put it on the ground, but I
preferred to have the bottle higher than the reservoir so a
siphoning effect would not work against me when it came time to
depressurize everything.
4. Attach the bicycle pump to the valve stem on the bottle and
give it a few pumps. Fluid should start up the tube to the
reservoir. If not, you've got a leak somewhere that needs to be
fixed before it will work.
Usage
Once it's all hooked up and pressurized (not excessively; you don't want
to blow a seal somewhere) you're ready to start bleeding.
The brakes, that is. Not yourself.
The bleeding procedure is identical to the way you'd normally do it,
except nobody has to pump the brake pedal.
1. Start with the wheel that has the longest line to the
reservoir.
2. Attach a short length of small-diameter clear tubing to the
bleed nipple and put the other end into the catch reservoir.
I like to put a vertical loop in the tube so that the fluid
has to run upwards from the nipple--easy to tell when all air
is out of the system, and further minimizes the risk that air
will not get reintroduced.
3. Loosen the bleed nipple. Air in the line will be purged,
followed by fluid.
- As you don't have a lot of pressure (probablly only 7-10
psi), and there's a lot of plumbing to the rear brakes, you
may need to do a little conventional pedal-stomping to get
things started. Don't worry about getting an assistant. The
pressurized system should prevent air from getting
reintroduced at the wheel.
- Things should flow freely for the front.
4. When you see clean airless fluid come out tighten the bleed
nipple and move to the next wheel
5. Keep an eye on the fluid in the bottle. When in runs out,
depressurize the bottle at the valve stem and refill.
6. When you're done, remove the pump and depressurize at the valve
stem.
That's it! Your own Eezibleed clone at less than one-fourth the price of
the real thing. Too bad I can't make a Colortune clone. How the heck
would you make a see-through spark plug?
Warning
Always depressurize the system by pressing the button in the valve stem,
not by unscrewing the bottle lid or reservoir cap. Unscrewing the
bottle lid will cause the fluid to be sucked out of the reservoir.
Unscrewing the reservoir cap will spray saint stripper nee brake fluid
all over everything.
Another Idea!
An appropriately modified Super-Soaker squirt gun would make a spiffy
self-contained unit. Not quite as frugal, but spiffy nonetheless.
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Back you my home page
Jay Titlton
Last modified: 06/30/96
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Patton Dickson Dallas, TX
1967 Austin-Healey Sprite H-AN9-L/69437
See My Austin-Healey Sprite Page
http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Shores/1256/page2.html
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