MG Car Repair: mgb clutch bleed difficulty, clutch systems, air bubbles

Question
Howard,
i recently acquired a 76 english B thats been idle for many years.motor ok but cant get any pedal pressure after rekitting the master and slave.dont have a pressurising tool,but have tried a method of feeding fluid from an elevated header tank of fluid into slave bleeder,ie in reverse..still no success

Answer
Hi Lawson,
Clutch systems are difficult to bleed because you are normally trying to push air bubbles down a large line. Your idea of reverse bleeding is correct. A container with fluid held up high with a long hose attached to the slave bleeder valve and open the valve and with the master cylinder reservoir empty and cap off and watch until the reservoir is full and close the slave bleeder valve and it is finished. Any air in the system will be carried into the reservoir.
Some mechanics would just fill the reservoir and open the bleeder and let it drip and run into a can watching to see that the reservoir does not get too low. Then they close the bleeder valve and use a pry bar to quickly force the clutch arm at the bell housing so as to force the rod back into the slave cylinder. This pushes fluid back into the reservoir so you need to have it at a low level to do this. then they pump the pedal very slowly down and more slowly releasing the pedal.
Let me know.
Howard