Busted Bleeder Valve Nut

[turbo_rolla]

Hey guys, have been putting my new JDM ae86 brake setup into my ke70 and all was going well until i went to bleed the brakes. Tried undoing the bleeder valve on one of the calipers, it was pretty tight, then it just snapped off, leaving the thread still in the caliper (where it screws in). Tried WD40 on the next one, but this seemed to soften it more and it snapped too :P I'm guessing they'd been sitting around in japan for a while and siezed or something....So, I'm now stuck with a brake system full of air that i can't bleed from the front. So, what I'm after are either some othe options to bleed it (can i do it from the rear? - t-18 rear end), or an option to get whats left of the thread out of the calipers (drill out until most the thread is gone????). Any assistance would be appreciated. Thanks :)

[irokin]

eze-out would be your best bet. Then fit some new bleed nipples. You MUST bleed every caliper, can't just do the rears and hope that bleeds the fronts because it simply wont work.

[machg]

You could try just cracking the fitting on the back on the caliper, pumping some fluid through, that may help clear any bubbles from the lines, but not the calipers. Be warned; if the bleed nipples were siezed, the fittings on the back of the caliper are probably stuffed too, I'd be leaving it to a brake specialist. Its the one thing you don't take chances with.

Edited November 24, 2007 by machg

[turbo_rolla]

Alright, thanks for that guys. Definately don't wanna be stuffing around with the brakes though, so wanna get it sorted. I'm hoping that its just a matter of the bleeder nipples being seized up in there, and once they're out there wont be any problems, but will see. Will see what i can organise. Thanks

[Jono]

not sure how much your time is worth, but there are mobile dudes who will remove broken bolts and studs. might cost you $150 or so but you won't have to do anything but ring them.

i found a broken engine mount bolt in my block when i got it and an ez-out worked just fine, but that was probably easier as its a bit bigger and the block was nice and stable to drill into.

[turbo_rolla]

just went to my local "parts shop" and picked up a 5 piece "screw extractor set", so will see if its able to do the job. I actually drilled a bit of a hole already into the RHS caliper bolt to try and get it out, so there's enough support there to drill in. Will give it a crack now. Thanks for the advice!

[turbo_rolla]

picked up a pack of "ezy outs" from the local parts shop. Managed to get the passenger side one out with them as i hadnt drilled that yet. Just enlarged the centre of the nipple a bit and it picked up the thread on the inside and out she came :P the one i'd had a shot at yesterday with the drill was different story though - had drilled out too much, so couldnt get a tight fit for the "ezy out" (any size), so ended up just drilling that one out (took quite a while.....). So ive got one good caliper i can put a new nipple/valve back in, and another one that i'll have to rethread or something and use a larger nipple/valve as its bigger than the original sizing now. Will hopefully get it sorted out and get it on the road to try them soon! thanks for your input guys! :)

[Guest Sbox]

Deleted

Edited May 24, 2008 by Sbox

[turbo_rolla]

yeah, was thinking i should probably do a rekit for them as i was reading about the possibility of metal etc in them. Will have a look into it and see what i need to get and should either be able to do it myself, or get my mate to do it for me.

 

Was gonna tap a new thread on the caliper today but couldnt bring myself to spend $40 on a cheap shitty tap & die set that i'd use once, so will maybe just take it somewhere and get them to do it properly??? Either that or buy a new caliper (Yay, more money!!!). Only concern is finding a bleeder valve that'll be big enough (its got a minimum 6mm hole in it, goes out to about 9mm-10mm at the start), so not quite sure what to do there as the best option. Think i'll have to find a "biggish" valve and then see if its possible to put it into the caliper via a tap. Its just annoying, cause something that should've been soooo simple has become a nightmare. Plus there was a major f$#karound to actually get the calipers in the first place :P

[7shades]

A brake reconditioning place should be able to whack a helicoil in there for about $20... saves you drilling out the hole any bigger

[turbo_rolla]

cool, thanks for that. Will make some enquiries today and see what i can come up with! :P

[turbo_rolla]

Rang a couple of places and got a price to fix the brakes - about $30 to "tap" a new thread in there. About $40-$50 to to a heli-coil and valve, and about $60-$70 to do a bleeder repair kit (apparently they clean it all out, put some kind of nut in there or something that the bleeder valve then screws into). So it'll cost maximum $70 to get that done, which although I'm not toooo pleased about, its cheaper than a new caliper. Also decided to get them to strip them down and give them a clean ready for a rebuild kit to go through them. Stripping will be $20 each, rebuild kit $24 each. So i'll be looking at about $150-$160 but will effectively have a nice fresh pair of JDM calipers. Have had to spend alot more than i expected (was expecting to be able to just machine the rotors i got by they were already @ minimum thickness - 17mm), but will basically have a new setup on the front so can't complain too much i guess! Thanks again to those who suggested solutions! :P

[7shades]

It sounds like a big outlay when you add it all up, but its REALLY worth getting your brakes done by the pros. Thats one part of a car I will never attempt to recondition myself or do anything dodgy on... being as they are the only things stopping you from spearing into trees or off cliffs etc...

[turbo_rolla]

It sounds like a big outlay when you add it all up, but its REALLY worth getting your brakes done by the pros. Thats one part of a car I will never attempt to recondition myself or do anything dodgy on... being as they are the only things stopping you from spearing into trees or off cliffs etc...

yeah, the way I'm looking at it is its really only costing me $70 more (to get the bleeder valve fixed) to do it, and it has forced me to get the brakes reconditioned which is a good thing and money well spent like you said. WIll get my mate to actually put the rebuild kit through it (he's a mech), so should be good and will look nice and new once its done. Will get some pics up showing what they've done when i get them back on wednesday!

[turbo_rolla]

Got the brakes back from the place today:

 

 

 

 

Cost $160 for 2x caliper rebuild kits, removing and replacing broken valve with a "repair kit", and disassembly and stripping of the calipers. So will get some paint on them, put the new kits through them and get them back together and should be set to go (SHOULD BE!!!).