Jvette73

My vette is a 73. According to my haynes manual it should only have 1 bleeder on the rear calipers. Instead it has 3 on each rear caliper. The book says that 78-82 models have inner and outer bleeders on the rear. So im assuming that the calipers on my 73 are ones designed for 78-82 models. I got 3 questions.

1. What are the design differences between these two different calipers?

2. Even though theyre on my car and seem to work fine, is there any compatability problems using the later model calipers on my 73?

3. Why does one caliper need 3 bleeders and the other only 1?

Thanks in advance for any responses. This is a great forum and I love it as always.

Dalannex

There should be 1 for your car, 2 for the 78-82, but many of the rebuilt calipers come with 2, so if they've been switched you would probably have 2. The 3 bleeder thing I can't explain. But the calipers with 2 bleeders will work just fine.

Jvette73

Dalannex, yup they have 3 bleeders on each rear. One on the upper portion of the inner half, and one at the top and bottom of the outer half for a total of 3.

redwingvette

I had a problem when I replaced my pads the first time. I coudn't figure out how come I couldn't get the air out of teh rears until I crawlee under the car and found that they had two bleeders on the rears. The more there are the better it is.

PatsLs1vette

i have 2 on the upper parts of the rear calipers only the other has a plug in it,and theline goes in the other one.

pws69

Yes, there are three. There are two top ones for bleeding, and a bottom one which should have a plug, but sometimes has a bleeder. The reason for two holes on the inner half of the caliper is so they can use it on either side - whichever hole is UP gets the bleeder, and the bottom just needs to be plugged somehow!

Paul

Chuck Gongloff

PWS is 100% correct. There should only be 2 bleeders....inner and outer on the upper halves of the caliper. The lower one should have a plug, and not a bleeder valve. Why? When they're rebuilt, you can put the one "caliper half" in either way.....on lt. or rt. SO...the lower hole gets a plug. Air rises....no sense for a bleeder on the bottom.

Also, I'm no expert, but I've never seen any rear caliper from 65-up that didn't have 2 bleeders. Chuck

Jvette73

Thanks for the info everyone. So now I will dis-regaurd the bottom bleeder since it should be plugged anyway. Maybe this is why I got bad results from gravity bleeding. Since I was loosening that bottom bleeder and letting fluid drip, do you think its possible that that could have let air back into the caliper?

Jvette73

I posted another question regaurding bleeding in another thread. if you care to respond please check it out. The question is regaurding the order of bleeding and is in my latest reply to the thread down at the bottom. Thanks
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=517286


[Modified by Jvette73, 3:13 PM 3/19/2003]

clem zahrobsky

the bleeders have to be at the highest point on the caliper to let out the trapped air,the air raises to the top. some times aftermarket calipers must be unbolted and rotated around to get the bleeder to the highest point.