I'm gathering all the parts for my brake system upgrade, I have the Racing Brake F&R kit, stainless lines etc. The last item is brake fluid. Does anyone know how much brake fluid the FD system holds? Reservoir, master cylinder, lines and calipers?

Rather than an exact capacity I quess the real question I should ask is: should I buy one or two (or three?) quarts of new fluid?

(yes I did a search first)

 

I've always been fine with one liter. But since I mail order for it, I always buy two or three at a time and save a little on shipping.

Just make sure to bench bleed the master and you should be done within a liter no problem.

 

Thanks, I haven't found it locally so I'll have to mail order as well.

 

Have you ever flushed your system before?

 

Not on the Mazda, no.

With all the cars I have to work on I'm considering getting a Motive bleeder.

 

What is bench bleeding?

 

The trouble with installing a new master cylinder is that all of the brake lines and fittings create a pretty good amount of resistance even if you open the bleeders. This makes getting air out of the MC difficult and time consuming.

Bench bleeding is just a method of ensuring the master cylinder is perfectly bled before installing it in the car. At that point you have only air in the lines and that usually bleeds through at the calipers without trouble.

Bench bleeding is just hooking up tubes to each outlet of the MC to dump fluid back into the reservoir. After several strokes of the piston it will clear itself of air.

Dave