I understand this is compatible with DOT 3 spec. systems (i.e. the 3rd-gen). Any inputs on what is the liquid capacity of our braking system? I'm replacing my brake fluid with the Ferodo 5.1 and don't want to buy too much or little. Thanks.

 

Not to be a smart *** but it is in the owner's manual if you have one. I changed to 5.1 six months ago and found it in there.

 

^^^^^^YUP^^^^^^^

 

I looked there...in the back is a capacity of all fluids back brake fluid isn't in the table. Guess I'll look again.

 

You should be able to completely flush your brake (and clutch) system with a 1/2 liter.

Start by getting the old stuff out of the reservoir with a turkey baster or other sucking device.

Bleeding/flushing sequence is RR, LR, LF, RF.

 

It would be a good idea to get about 2 liters just so you are sure to have enough. It will probably take 1 liter to really flush out the old stuff, but say you spill half by accident...

-Max

 

Very interesting.........

I also need to drain/flush/refill my brake fluid as well. Does anyone have a pic to where I'm suppose to bleed it from the resivor?

THanks.

-Dan

 

No you suck out the old fluid from the reservoir, and refill with new fluid. Then you flush the system with clean fluid coming from the reservoir. I have the one man bleed setup. Nifty.

 

Does the existing brake/clutch fluid in the engine bay reservior get reused/recycled throughout the clutch/braking system or does it just get sucked in everytime we step on the clutch and brake?

I have the sucking thingy so I should just use that and siphon all of the existing fluid out and dump in the new one?

Thanks SleepR1

-Dan

 

The fluid doesn't really cycle through the system. You have to open the bleeder at each wheel (and the clutch, one at a time) and flush the fluid out of the lines.

You want to suck out all the old fluid from the reservior and fill it with new fluid to speed the flushing process. If you suck it out and fill with new, you have that much less old fluid to flush through the system.

There is a lot of fluid in the lines, too, so you'll need to suck and fill the reservoir and then bleed the brakes and clutch until it is all new fluid coming through the lines. A pressure bleeder makes this a relatively easy process.

-Max

 

My god how long is this processs suppose to take for a first timer?!?!

-Dan

 

And where could I find a pressure bleeder? Is that the same thing as a speed bleeder? Still fairly new to this. I've done it on a million and one bikes, but this is a bit different.

Zach

 

http://www.motiveproducts.com/ sells a nice pressure bleeder.

This thread would have you believe this is a difficult, time consuming process, but it isn't that bad. We just have lots of words on the finer points.

Here's a more streamlined description:

1. Suck fluid out of reservoir and refill with fresh fluid.
2. Bleed RR until fresh fluid comes through, keeping reservoir topped off with new fluid.
3. Bleed LR until fresh fluid comes through, keeping reservoir topped off with new fluid.
4. Bleed LF until fresh fluid comes through, keeping reservoir topped off with new fluid.
5. Bleed RF until fresh fluid comes through, keeping reservoir topped off with new fluid.
6. Bleed clutch until fresh fluid comes through, keeping reservoir topped off with new fluid.

-Max

 

Thanx Max. How much better is the 5.1 fluid vs. the normal 3 that we use now? What are the differences? Thanx in advance as usual.

Zach

 

5.1 has a higher boiling point specification. Some fluids absorb water (from the air) very quickly and thus need to be changed often to keep them fresh. The boiling point will be closer to the "wet" boiling point after they have been in there a while. Other fluids may have a lower "dry" boiling point, but don't absorb water as quickly -- these fluids are ideal for a street car. Castrol SRF owns all, but costs as much as fine wine.

The best bargain for non-race-cars is probably Volvoline SynPower. It has the highest boiling point of the auto-parts-store fluids, you can get it anywhere, and it is only $5 for 32 oz. Castrol LMA seems to be popular among club racers that I have known, and it is cheap and available as well. The LMA is "low moisture absorbtion" so this should be great for street cars, but the boiling points aren't that high. I have also used Neo High Performance fluid from http://www.bakerprecision.com/ and liked that. It is $6 for a 12 oz can. I am currently using ATE Super Blue from http://www.motiveproducts.com/. This is good fluid, reasonably priced, and you can alternate between gold and blue fluid (same thing, different colors) so it is easy to tell when you have a complete flush. Motul and others make good fluids as well, but I haven't tried them.

-Max

 

Good notes in this thread guys...thanks muchly for the advice. For some add'l info, i was researching the fluids and came across this site that has a neat table showing dry/wet boiling points for the various fluids out there:

http://www.proformanceusa.com/castro...rake_fluid.htm

...it's pretty apparent that the SRF is the tip-top of the line (for what you seem to be able to get without being a bona fide racer), but as noted, the price is way up there. That being said, I am still considering the SRF simply due to the fact that I do NOT want any kind of brake failure, however, I've been running Motul 600 in my FD for some time now and have done 2 track events on it with very little in the way of fade.

I will hopefully be doing fluid and/or pads this weekend, so this thread has been of great help.

Tks,

 

My brakes started braking when I wasn't even pressing the pedal. Couldn't figure out what it was. Changed the pads, inspected all the main components.

Still did it with new pads, so I started to bleed. Got rid of all the old fluid and magically my brakes worked better than ever.