Thanks for the help guys, clutch works!

["Denis, Jean" <Jean_Denis@domain.elided>]

Thanks everybody, the response to my plea was tremendous - lending credence
to the theory that my immense pain over this issue could be felt
psychokinetically across great distances!!
Anyway, I got madame (a.k.a. "my damn") clutch working properly last night
:-) :-) !!!!!!!! :-) :-) !!!!!!!!!
So I think that I get to do the Happy Dance! If only you could see me now!!

Out of all the tips that I received, this is what worked for me:

Stuff rags under clutch master; Crack open the hard line fitting (turned the
fitting two flats worth) at the clutch master; push pedal down and tighten
fitting; pull pedal back up and crack fitting open again; push pedal down...
etc.; repeat as required (5 cycles in my case). I had done this once before
without results but with two differences, I had undone the fitting way too
much and didn't bother closing it each time I cycled the pedal.

After getting the bulk of the air out of the master, I went to the slave and
(with the slave oriented to have the bleeder screw at the top - tough to do
if your slave is frozen into the bracket, mine was greased) pushed a bunch
of fluid through for good measure. The pedal feels very good now, although I
can't say if absolutely all the air is gone, at least it works very
satisfactorily.

And now the $64,000 question: Will this procedure always work and is it the
"one best way"? Well, I did not have to have recourse to vacuum or pressure
bleeders and was able to do the work alone in a few minutes on level ground
- - which is good, although I did use a special check valve (intended for
brake bleeding) at the slave end to more easily complete the job.  The
little check valve brake bleeding kit cost me $8 Cdn and allowed me to just
repeatedly pump the pedal and flush the system out well. A pressure or
vacuum bleeder would probably help to get any last remaining pockets of air
out.

It depends if the air in the system is at the master or at the slave, if
there's air in the master it has to come out (I knew that!) before bleeding
the line or the slave - it's just a matter of subtle technique in getting it
to work and I found it to be easy enough once I got the hang of it and
applies equally well to braking systems.

Thanks again everybody!!

Jean Denis
'89 Milano Verde (born again)
'93 Acura Legend (trade for '93 or later 164 - seriously)
'74 Datsun Z (half British)
Raleigh Super Course (now half Japanese)

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