How to Bench Bleed a Master Cylinder in a Chevy Camaro

The speedy Chevy Camaro was first introduced in 1967 and is still a very popular muscle car today. If you need to replace the brake master cylinder in your Camaro, bench bleed the new one before installing it to get the trapped air out of the system and avoid forcing it into your brake lines. The process only takes about 10 minutes and these instructions apply to any model year.

Instructions

Prepare the Master Cylinder

1

Uninstall the old master cylinder before you bench bleed the new one. The location of the cylinder varies slightly between different model years, but generally, it sits prominently near the driver's side firewall on the Chevy Camaro.

2

Clean and reuse the old brake fluid reservoir. Your new master cylinder may already come with one, so do whatever is most cost-effective.

3

Place the new Chevy Camaro master cylinder in a vise on your work bench or table. Clamp it down firmly, making sure it's level, so it doesn't form air pockets inside it during the process. Have your bleeder kit handy.

4

Fit the reservoir onto the replacement cylinder, if you're reusing your old one or if you've bought a new one. If your cylinder came with a reservoir, then it's most likely already installed.

5

Find the two fittings that came with your kit and screw them into the outlets on the side of the cylinder. Insert the two lengths of plastic tubing from the kit into the fittings.

6

Bend the hoses, so they aim into the brake fluid reservoir, then trim them so they'll stick about halfway down into it. Clip the two tubes to the reservoir to keep them in place to ensure you don't allow air back into the system.

Bench Bleed the Master Cylinder

7

Pour fresh DOT 3 brake fluid into the Chevy Camaro's reservoir; stop when you get just short of the maximum fill line. The hoses you attached should extend down into the fluid to make a miniature hydraulic system.

8

Put the screwdriver into the master cylinder and firmly push it against the piston to start the process. Pump the piston to push the fluid through the cylinder and into the hoses. The fluid will cycle back into the reservoir, but since you used fresh fluid, it's okay.

9

Look for air bubbles coming out of the hoses and depositing into the brake fluid in the reservoir. Keep pumping until all the air is out of the cylinder and bubbles no longer appear.

10

Leave the hoses in the reservoir and carefully remove the cylinder from the vise. Now you're ready to install the master cylinder into your Chevy Camaro.