4 wheel manual disc brakes?

[GregWeld]

Originally Posted by 69MyWay

Here is a hijack while we have some great brake experts to share their .02

I'm setting up my car (by default) at this time using manual 4 wheel disc brakes. This car is a factory manual brake car - so the pedal, small m/c bore...and all are intact. It is a 69 Vette - and will be my first manual brake car in...forever!

I was bleeding the brakes after bench bleeding the m/c the other day. I was letting them gravity bleed while doing other things. The fronts came on-line after a bit and I was able to get pressure in them.

The rear after over an hour of being open didn't bleed. Tried to pump them...with no result.

So....what is the trick to get those rear babies to come on-line?

And...I am glad to see so much positive response on this thread about running manual brakes. I'd like to upgrade the m/c later due to the poor visual of the heavy cast - soon to rust - stock m/c.

You might need to apply some VACUUM to get them to bleed - sometimes I tap the caliper with a small dead blow hammer to "shake" the air bubbles. BUT I have a handy dandy air driven vacuum bleeder so it's easy on my end and a one man job -- ALSO make sure you have fluid in the MC --- keep it topped off... When bleeding brakes - you ALWAYS start with the furthest away - meaning you should have gotten all the air out of the passenger Rear FIRST... then the driver rear - then the passenger front... then do it all over again.

Stop the rusting master cylinder with some "cast blast" rattle can paint from Eastwoods or similar - it makes it look like brand new cast iron. Just don't spill brake fluid on that paint! So when you're done - make sure you clean everything with some mineral spirits or similar.