66 S1 Brake Bleeding Update

I had a prevous post that ended in no joy. Anyway this is the “joy” sequel to that, at least the bleeding portion. In summary here is what I did to get pedal pressure. This is after replacing the MC and servo. I did the pressure bleed method (no pedal pumping was needed). I used 60ml syringes purchased from Amazon for ~$8 (picture below of my configuration).

  1. After installing the MC and servo I connected both resevoir lines to syringes filled with brake fluid.
  2. I loosened the rear brake line and pressure bled the MC and rear brake section of the servo using the syringe.
  3. Then loosened the front brake line and pressure bled the front brake portion of the servo
  4. Removed the rear wheels and front two rear shocks for access to the rear bleeders (thanks Coventry). Also raised the front and remoeved the front wheels. Rear sagged a bit more with the two shocks removed.
  5. Loosened right rear bleeder. Was unable to pressure bleed initially but discovered an issue with the ball bearing in the bleeder hole. Seemed this was stuck. I learned this the hard way by removing the bleeder and trying to bleed it. The bearing ended up popping out. I was lucky find the bearing on the floor then placed it back in the hole. After that I was able to bleed it.
  6. I proceeded to bleed all the calipers using this method. I discovered you have to loosen each bleeder several turns in order, I presume, to allow for the bearing to “float” and pass fluid (slightly loose or 1 full turn did not work). This worked for me.
  7. I purged roughly a liter of fluid through the entire sytem (probably more than necessary). I used a clear line from my Mighty Vac and an old brake fluid container to capture the fluid.
  8. I connected the resevoirs to each line and filled with brake fuid.
  9. Pumped the pedal a few times…good brake pressure.

Anyway just some shared learning here. Yes as everyone says the rears are a pain in the arse. I am still not done putting humpty back together, but much was learned with this endevor. One thing to note if I removed all the roadblocks I encountered this could be done in a couple of hours or less.

Skene

Glad you figured it out. I haven’t used the ball bearing bleeders for so long I forgot about them.

why wouldn’t you add remote bleeders on the rear and forget all that other stuff:)

This is my first experience bleeding the brakes on a Jag. The remote bleeders are on my list.

Here is a pic, before and after the work, and the car at a show at my work last week. My motivation was to get this back on the road for the show (gotta have brakes). I had it back on the road 24hrs prior to the show. Whew.

2 Likes

I have as well a '66 fhc, were some without the brake master covered housing ?

Patrick
'66 fhc

I am not famiar with the cover as mine never had one. There is nothing resembling that in my box of spare parts that came with the car (have a lot of stuff). One thing someone else pointed out with mine is the heat shield being on backwards. I believe a PO fabricated an additional plate on the exhaust side I am guessing to add some strength or barrier to the insulation material and in the process decided to reverse it. I don’t think it matters unless you have a concours show car (mine is not). Your bridge line between the MC and servo has an interesting path. I am guessing there are several variations of that also.

Skene,

My pipe to servo was custom made from local shop, I wasn’t sure how it was originally pathed; I’m approaching 4 years rebuilding this monstrosity.

Interesting my '66 fhc Brake Master has a hose from bottle to master, yours show a metal pipe to bottle.

Patrick
'66 fhc

Mine will need a drivetrain rebuild sometime in the future mostly to plug all the leaks. I am fixing the bits that break or need attention as they surface. It runs and drives well; everything works. My old MC and Servo configuration had metal pipes with a rubber hose for the final connection to the resevoirs. The new ones have the same configuration as yours. This was handy for pressure bleeding.