great to hear that things are back on track!

I've used my old Gunson Eezi Bleed kit on all of my vehicles for many years and it really is a boon when working single handed.

http://www.carparts-direct.co.uk/Brake_Bleed_Kit.cfm

A good tip which I've also used for years, and it gets the very last drop of air out of the system, is to wedge the brake pedal using a lump of timber then leave it over night. On the motorbike, I use a G-clamp on the lever. Next morning, the brakes will be superb (or as superb as a 2CVs brakes will ever get)

Paul,
if I understand correctly, you're suggesting that maintaining steady pressure on the brake system somehow allows any air in the system to be displaced?

However, isn't it more probable that the process of bleeding the brakes hasn't been as successful as it should and that 'overnight pressurising' is resulting in any trapped air being dissolved in the brake fluid...

ken

I arrived home this afternoon to find a small package of trim fittings that I had ordered from ECAS had arrived. Included were the captive nuts which I needed to allow me to fit the door capping to each door.



With those done the next job was a little more fiddly. On almost every 2cv you see, and certainly all those that I have owned, the grey plastic trim around the mirrors is falling apart. To put a set of mirrors like that back onto the car would spoil it, so I had a go at fitting a replacement kit.



I took the old one off easily enough, then cleaned up the steel of the mirror case and the adjusting arm using a method I have developed that works far better than using solvol. What I do is take some of that impregnated cotton wadding known commercially as Duraglit, or Brasso, the one that comes in a small drum shaped tin. Wrap the wadding up in a sheet of fine grade wire wool so the wadding is in the centre, then rub hard and hey-presto!

Used like this the wadding releases cleaning fluid which lubricates the steel wool, while at the same time the steel wool makes short work of any surface imperfections or bits of rust, paint and what have you. Having cleaned up the metal parts I attempted to fit the new grey trim - ha! I rank this job for downright awkwardness and frustration right up there with building the tower of babel from playing cards, but the job had to be done and under those circumstances I did what any man would do in my place - I let the Mrs. do it.



Even she struggled, but eventually she managed to get them both on and I went outside to fix them to the car. Once they were attached I sat in the drivers seat to set them at the right angle and I noticed that the drivers side mirror had some sort of printing on it. I took a closer look, and although it can't really be seen in the photo below the reason soon became clear, or unclear as it turned out. The mirror is in the wrong way round! It's really odd to have come across this as all the others I've seen were blank on the rear, this one however, not so.



If any of you have one of those shaving mirrors that are normal on one side and enlarged or magnifying on the other then that's exactly the effect that the glass in this mirror does when looking into it. My arm in the photo is in focus while everything else behind the driver is just a blur. Looks like the trim and glass will have to be removed again and turned around...so I better wait until she's in a good mood before I mention it.

Old-Nail,
before you break that news, is the mirror glass which is now fitted to the nearside flat?

Reason for asking is that the one with flat glass should be on the driver's side, so that the view it provides isn't distorted, making it easier to estimate the distance and speed of other traffic.
In some countries including America and Australia, only a flat (planar) mirror may be fitted on the driver's side.

On the other hand, the glass on the nearside should be convex, which gives a wider field of vision...

ken

USA:
http://www.physlink.com/Education/AskExperts/ae449.cfm
"If you inspect both side mirrors on your car, you will find out that the driver side mirror is planar, while the passenger side mirror is (convex) spherical. "

Australia:
"Vehicle Standard (Australian Design Rule 14/01 ? Rear Vision Mirrors) 2006
142.0 Any internal rear vision mirror fitted to a vehicle and intended to provide the driver with a view of following or overtaking vehicles shall have a flat reflecting surface i.e. of unit magnification.
.....
14.2.3. External Rear Vision Mirrors
14.2.3.1. Driver's Side
14.2.3.1.1. Field of View -A flat external mirror shall be installed
....
14.2.3.2. Passenger?s Side
14.2.3.2.2. The mirror shall be flat or convex. "

And if you're used to driving a 2CV with the correct "convex" mirror on the nearside ......you'll find a flat nearside mirror virtually useless
[please dont ask how I know this .... ]
btw .....plenty of vaseline/waxoyl/soap on the trim,shove it in "too far" [Oooer missus .. ] .....and then gently tap the mirror side onto/into? the palm of your hand.
It took me about 2 hours to do the nearside of my car,and about 10 minutes each to do the offside and the nearside glass afterward I'd discovered the above.

hth
T.

Ken

This tried and tested method which I heard about yonks ago, works particularly well when bleeding the brakes on a Honda Pan European motorcycle where the brake lines have a number of connections and a bit of a tortuous route. When lifting the top of the brake master cylinder it's not the usual air bubbles coming to the surface, more like a very fine foam. As I say I've done this for years, and passed this on to other riders both sides of the Atlantic, and always results in glowing results.

I also use the same method with cars but usually there is not such a noticable improvement. Perhaps the brake lines are simpler with fewer nooks and crannies for the air to hide in?

Old Nail
I bought the replacement plastic trim for the door mirrors. If it's any consolation the first one took over an hour to fit correctly and the second one a couple of minutes. Like so many things it's a knack, once you've done it once .....!

Heh heh...I've not done it once yet.

As far as I can remember both mirrors were flat on the cars I've had? The mirror currently on the drivers side which is obviously convex just makes everything blurry when looking into it, while the one on the passenger side lets me see 'normally', or at least how I'm used to seeing through them.

It's entirely possible that I've got the glasses mixed up as I dismantled about four mirrors and cherry picked all the best bits. Am I to understand that by mounting the blurry glass on the near side door I would be able to see through it clearly from the drivers seat? And it is because I am sat too close to it mounted on the drivers door that it's blurred?

I've now broke the news that one mirror has to come apart again, and I can probably find some more glass to fit but she'll never go for swapping both of them round.

Paul,
I cannot see any way that pressurising a brake system could persuade any air trapped in remote sections of the system to travel back towards the master cylinder.

Perhaps it's all done with smoke and mirrors?

ken.

Anyway, probably best if we don't carry on cluttering up Old-Nail's thread with chatter about brakes. When the forum bods return from their Gallic adventures, maybe they can shift this lot over to another topic?