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Old 05-17-2011, 10:31 PM   #2
kpluiten
Scooby Guru
 
Member#: 120273
Join Date: Jul 2006
Chapter/Region: SWIC
Location: AZ
Vehicle:
06 WRBWRXWGN
Now with 100% more Spec-C

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I just recently did this. 1/8 NPT is borderline. My hole got ovaled out due to some lousy machine work to remove the bleeder so I had to step it up to 1/4 NPT. And at 1/4 NPT, there was basically NO meat left around the hole. Furthermore, the tap was too long and it bottomed out on the bottom of the hole before it made the hole wide enough to fit the insert. I had to cut/grind the tap down little by little until I could expend the hole enough and not bottom out.

When I was done, I could only thread the 1/4 NPT in just about 3 whole turns. It wasn't much, but due to it's taper, I didn't want to force it in too far and break the caliper casting. I had a friend do this and he ended up welding the hole shut and just turning the caliper around to bleed it out. It worked fine for him so keep that in mind.

Before I tightened it down, I put highpressure thread sealant (not locker, but sealant) on the threads and let it cure. It's removable in the future if need be. I now have a couple thousand miles on this setup and it is working fine. No leaks or anything.

My advice would be to drill out that bleed screw AS CAREFULLY as possible and see if you can do a 1/8 NPT unit. If not, try the 1/4 NPT as a back up. If both fail, weld it up and redrill or just bleed it off the hub like my buddy.

also, shop around for those things. I bought both 1/8 and 1/4 units for like $2.80 each or something. I also bought taps for each and had to modify one like described above. Lastly I paid for some drill bits and high pressure thread sealant.

It works. Enough said. Feel free to PM me for questions. I'm happy to help.

Posts from my build thread:

Quote:
So, nothing terribly exciting, but I did get some stuff in the mail today.

First up I got the Thexton Bleed screw repair kits I ordered for one of the front Brembo calipers. During rebuild, the bleed screw was frozen and ended up snapping off flush with the caliper. Not good. Turns out there is a very specific way of removing frozen bleeder screws so that they do not break that involves inserting a hardened metal dowel pin in the hole on the center of the screw. This prevents the fitting from collapsing in on itself when you apply great torque. Too bad I found this out after to broke. The threads came out stuck on the bleed screw.

Either way, I ordered one of each size they make as I was unsure of how what size I really needed. They were ~$3.00 each. Cheap if they fix the issue. In a nutshell, you drill out the hole and thread it with 1/8 or 1/4 NPT.

Here is the kit opened:


Here are the kits compared with a stock sized speed bleeders for size comparison.
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