I have an entire toolbox of “Dad’s tools.”
Even the early 60s-vintage Monkey Ward box, totally worn out, beat up, had to replace it a few years ago.
Haven’t brought myself to junking it yet…
Coincidentally, today a friend gave me a set of tools he said he wouldn’t use, but knew I would. Turns out it’s excellent for this job. Essentially a line wrench crow’s foot on a socket. Nice part about it is you can get the bleeder tube on and then slide the wrench over the tube and onto the bleeder.
Thanks Geo. I think I found it in the USA. Think I will order one and see if it fits the square bottles on the E to perhaps help with bleeding since is not much $$.
David
68 E-type FHC
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If you do, please report back and let us know.
I always struggle to fit the plastic blender tube over the bleed valve. I did my brake bleeding on the weekend and made up the below. There’s just enough room to locate and force down the end of the hose on to the bleed valve. I use a vacuum pump - can then do single handed. Paul.
Just an update that my pressure bleed went very well today with the referenced post above tools. Used my pancake compressor @ about 15 lbs. to move the fluid. Just enough to move it nicely without risking a brake fluid explosion. Pedal rock hard and at the top when I got back in the car. Brakes work beautifully bled and with a repaired reaction valve piston.
With respect to Paul’s post about getting the plastic bleeder tube on, I feed it through the hole and center it on top of the bleeder and then pull it down with a bent nose needle nose pliers. Works pretty well. Easier on the left side of the car than right if you’re right handed.
Just read this thread. Until now I thought I was the only one that had to pressure AND Vacuum bleed to get a good hard pedal. Funny to see the exact same solution with pressure hose attachments on the reservoir. Great minds think alike.
I’ve never seen the need to pressure or vacuum bleed. Pumping the brakes doesn’t “stir up crud” or extend the pistons into nether regions. The most exotic gadget you might want to use is a speed bleeder nipple, which is just an ordinary bleeder nipple with some sealant on the threads.
Why wouldn’t you want to pressure bleed? Because pressurizing a 50 year old bottle filled with paint-eating brake fluid is just begging for catastrophe.
As for the bottle threads, I had posted on the Pub forum some information about them Although there are standards, they aren’t like machine threads. The thread patterns conform to “styles”, which are documented in charts and tables. The diameters these days are in whole millimeters. I suspect that the Girling bottles are inch-specified, and may not mate well with any current metric cap. However, the clutch bottle cap can be replaced with the cap from a 16oz soda bottle. Diet Coke works best, because the cap is silver and doesn’t look out of place.
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I have long read these threads with a certain level of bemusement.
I must have just been stupid lucky, bleeding all the brakes I did, w/o using all these whizbang tips.
Just another chance for me to cogitate on the failures I should have experienced…
I’m always open to a better idea and pressure or vacuum bleeding makes sense but , and I ask this question ofter here, how did they successfully and quickly bleed the brakes and clutches on the production line ?
I found, when rebuilding my car this last 4 years, that the original calipers came with a kind of speed bleeder which on my car was a bleed nipple with a small ball-bearing under it. The ball would fall back in place when the pressure was released so no air could be sucked back in. I replaced those with the more modern pointy type…why, I don’t know!!
Bleeding the E-type brakes was for the longest time a straightforward, two person job. Wife operating the brake pedal and me wrenching the bleed nipples. Then to progress to a one person job I tried vacuum bleeding but the sloppy fit of the bleed nipples allowed air to pass by their threads so went to pressure bleeding, which worked very well. But after going to DOT5 and remote rear bleeders I had trouble achieving a firm pedal, which I attributed to the long, downward path the air bubbles had to traverse to the remote bleeders, complicated by DOT5’s propensity to entrain microbubbles.
Pressure bleeding is still the best way to go solo, imo. 8-10 psi sufficient. The addition of the vacuum at the remote bleeders and quickly cracking open the nipple purges any stubborn air bubbles from the long, downward tubes and makes the job quick, easy and certain. But, of course, YMMV.
I’ve always bled the brakes solo. I just fit a tight fitting hose over the bleeder and run it into a bottle. As long as the threads are adequately sealed, no air gets back in. On the Jag, this is especially easy, since the rears are serviced through the rear bulkhead on a 2+2. So I can keep an eye on the container as I pump the brakes.
Ditto: I just used rubber grease on the nipples. No problems.
I tried a Mighty Vac look alike, and tried making a pressure cap for the reservoirs. Both proved unsatisfactory.
When I flushed the brake system last week The Boss was absolutely thrilled to be able to come down and sit in the car, moving the brake pedal on command while I worked the bleed nipples and added brake fluid to the bottles. It was her chance to watch HER MAN in action, exhibiting his mechanical prowess. 
Scuse me… I need to go don my waders.
But… where were you?
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I still find these inexpensive one man brake bleeders to be the best for me. Just use the magnet to place the little bottle higher than what you are bleeding. Last time I bought one it was about $8.
David
68 E-type FHC
What do you have to do to convert your system over from Castrol GTLMA to synthetic Dot 5?
You’ll get a full range of approaches for this, I will relate what I did:
I first replaced the three flexible lines just because they looked like they needed it. Then…
I sucked the reservoirs as empty as I reasonably could, filled them with DOT5 and bled each corner until I saw purple coming out.
That was 7 years (and 40,000 miles) ago on the E-Type though I have 20+ years on TRs that got the same treatment.
Some usual brake maintenance has occurred in the intervening years but no failures that I could attribute to either DOT5 or the replacement approach.
I realize the above is not the most conservative approach and I am not recommending it - just reporting what worked fine for me.
Well, call me a sissy, but pressure bleeding works great for me working solo and with a lift. This last go around I was at 10lbs. pressure. So little, I could stop the pressure with my finger with an air gun. If your bottle or components leak under that pressure, you NEED a new bottle or components. I guess there’s no right or wrong, just not bleeding as a maintenance item.
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