Craig fighting with the master cylinder. He was ultimately triumphant.
BB’s brakes did not work when we bought her and, having never worked on brakes before, I was terrified that this would permanently debilitate this bus. Our friend Alex came over on Saturday morning to help us install our new master cylinder and bleed the brake lines. He also turned out to be a great photographer.
As it turns out, bleeding brakes is really fun. Not roller-coaster fun, but definitely more fun than going to a movie—even a movie with popcorn. The operation was pretty seamless and hopefully (knock on wood) the brakes are now functional. We haven’t tried them yet, but one of these days we’ll get up the gumption to push the bus out of the garage and see what happens.
Sweet action shot, eh? See the lovely stream of brake fluid?
Oh yeah, and even though I'm in the driver's seat for both pictures posted here, I'd like to point out that I WAS under the car for the first two wheels--evidenced by the brake fluid stain on my sweatshirt.
Thanks again Alex, you rock!
Alex's super hot bug.
6 comments:
Hey - I love those head flash lights! - Where can I find one?
Did you find water in the lines?
I've read somewhere about using different color brake fluid and you can see when it gets cycled.
Paul
Oh and nice Blog theme update :)
Hi Paul,
The head flash lights--more commonly known as headlamps :-) we bought at REI, but You can probably get them at any hunting store or on amazon or at any big retailer who has a camping section. This is the one I have http://www.rei.com/product/771451
which does a darn good job. I believe Craigs was about $65 and shines a LOT of light, but it has a battery pack on the back and I don't like the bulk. I don't recommend the smaller wattage lamps.
There was a little water in a couple of the lines. I'll have to try the colored fluid trick some time.
Like the redesign!
So I read that you said it was fun to bleed brakes, and I thought, "She's nuts". Then I saw you sitting in the driver's seat and thought, "Oh, she thinks it's fun because she's just up there pumping the pedal, not down there getting disgusting brake fluid all over herself." Then you explained the fluid soaked into your shirt, and that you'd been belowdecks for the fronts , and I reverted back to my original opinion.
Good work, good post.
Alright,
whc03grady.
Lol--I'll take your opinion that you think I'm nuts as a compliment. I think I'm just really easily entertained.
Thanks everyone for your positive feedback and encouragement!
Thanks for letting me come and hang out with you guys that day. It was fun getting to go to the parts store several times, get your garage dirty and eat pizza!
Post a Comment