The power top on my 69 dosen't retract deep enough into the well. I'm told I need to fill and bleed the system. Iread previous posts on this subject but how can you purge air without a bleeder fitting? Can someone explain in detail this process and do you really have to disconect the cylenders?

Thanks.

69 Convert. RS

Paul,
I have a 68 Convertible with the power top also. It has a resevoir behind the rear set to fill with fluid. I beleive the 69's were the same. A few years back I had a leak in one of my cylinders so I took it out and put an O ring in it myself, fixed the problem as those buggers are not cheap. There is no bleeder on them I dont think but they do have tubing running from them to the pump.
The pressure from the fluid is what operates the top going up and down, fill the resevoir up to the level it should be and then operate the top check for leaks in the system as I think the leak I had was causing mine to not operate properly and act like there was air in the system.

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Mike
68 RS Convertible
http://www.camaro.lookscool.com

paul : I have recently replaced the Cylinders and pump in my 69 , the bleeding proceedure was fairly simple . you will need to access the top of the pump and remove the fill hole top off the pump as much as possiable , and then install a small hose into the fill hole , the other end into the fluid supply can, work the top up and down several times and that should do it . You will never get all the air out of the lines and according to the instruction that came with the new pump your not supposed to . Somthing else to look for however and what I ran into with mine was that my Cylinders were leaking inside and I could never get them to bleed completely, This condition eventually caused my pump to burn out after replacing everthing the system bled in about 15 min

Paul, The cyls and lines are self bleeding(eventually). The top pump just changes which end of the cyl the fluid is pushed into. The problem comes when the fluid level is low it introduces air in the lines. Then you get poor performance from the pump cause it's pushing foam instead of solid fluid. The only problem with self bleeding is it takes quite a number of top cycles to get the air out and you have to keep removing the rear seat to top off the fliud in the pump. That's why it is easier to follow the filling/bleeding instructions in the fisher body manual(folding top) section).

Luck, Kevin

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69' SS-350 Convert, M20, 3.55 posi. Totally Disassembled & in boxes (I'm working on it!)
69'(Hugger Orange -originally, Burgundy now) Z-21 Convert 327/PG, Driver (http://www.fototime.com/3C870D9037E51DE/standard.jpg)

I was able to bleed my 67 by standing the pump on end and using a funnel to add fluid and cycling the cylinders (disconnected from the top a bunch of times. As the advice someone gave me, lay down plenty of rags because it could get messy. I hose about the size of the plug feeding into a jug may work better. Good Luck!!
JJH