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MG MGA - Speed Bleeder

Has anyone used the Speed Bleeder? Its a brake bleeder for wheel and clutch cylinders that has a ball check valve, discussed in the April 2021 issue of MGA!

George


George G.

So no one has used the Speed Bleeder...?
George G.

George,
have a look in the Midget and Sprite Technical (and possibly General) Archives. Alan Anstead recommends them and others have used them.

I just use the one man and a jar method, one kit for clutch other for brakes.


Nigel Atkins

Nigel mentioned my name.
Yes I use Goodridge Speed bleeders available in metric and UNF from the likes of Demon Tweeks.
They are not a new idea but back in days of yore the internal springs were often of steel and rusted out.
I believe the Goodridge use stainless for their springs. Easy to use making a bleeding awkward job easy for a one man band. I use Goodridge flexible brake / clutch lines on both my Sprites and my modern daily driver (1990 Ford XR3i).
All of my cars use Silicon Brake fluid.
Alan
Alan Anstead

An MGA guru in Australia uses them and reckons pretty good. It’s a cost benefit thing - how often do you need to bleed the brakes on a well maintained car?
Mike
Mike Ellsmore

Depends on the environment and what fluid you're using, the 'good book' (Driver's Handbook) for mine has every 18 months or 18k-miles whichever is the sooner.

Clutch depends on when you think it should be done or at faults, so lots of times for me.
Nigel Atkins

Appreciate the comments!
George G.

I did buy the Gunsons Easibleed kit but abandoned it after trying it once.
It blew brake fluid all over the heater shelf after the dummy master cylinder cap blew off whilst I was using it.

The only part I used after that was the one-way bleed valve that attaches to the bleed nipple.

This though, worked well enough for me to be able to bleed the brakes on my own when I renewed the brake fluid a couple of years ago.

Cheers
Colyn
Colyn Firth

I use the Speed bleeders. There are several types on the market (mainly USA), so go to a reputable supplier.
Gary Lock

A couple of years back, I could just tell that “her indoors” was getting very fed up with what seemed to be my never ending attempts to bleed the clutch slave.

I’d had no success and was running out of bargaining power with her.

I purchased a “Vizibleed” kit from the local Halfords that instantly worked very well indeed. I see it’s also now available at Amazon for £6.
I did have to fix the tube to the bleed nipple with a cable tie to stop it blasting off, as the valve was probably not as good as it should be. But it did work first time, so I was very pleased with it (and my wife was relieved!)
Graham V

I bought the Mighty-Vac kit but was disappointed. There is enough air leakage around the loosened bleed screw threads so the suction was essentially useless. It was easier to just enlist a helper to pump the brake pedal or use a suitably long stick that would depress the brake pedal and then wedge against the rear cockpit rail.
T Heath

This thread was discussed between 05/09/2021 and 25/09/2021

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