Just getting into the brakes on my 67 project. Replaced the bleeder on my driver side front caliper. When trying to do the same for the passenger side I ended up rounding it off. Tried one of those nifty craftsman tools for removing rounded off bolts. Worked great, but the bleeder broke off. After that I got out the liquid wrench, and a hammer. Soaked it, and tapped it, and soaked it, and tapped it for two days. Heated it up a little, and tried an easy out. Broke it off in the bleeder. I have read in this forum where people have drilled the bleeder out and tapped it for a larger bleeder. My question is, couldn't you drill the correct size hole, and retap it the same size. Kind of using the tapping tool as a thread chaser to clean the old bleeder out of the threads already in the caliper. Any thoughts?

If you drill the very center of the bleeder, with a small diameter drill bit, and increase the size of the drill bit, little by little. Then you might be able to eliminate the bleeder metal and just end up with the original threads, clogged with just the remains of bleeder material. Use a tap to clean the threads. I've done it tons of times at work, with broken bolts. The bad thing is when the extractor breaks inside the broken bolt, sometimes it's impossible to remove. graemlins/clonk.gif
Another option is to use a bleeder repair kit, shown at the bottom right side of this page. Bleeder repair adapter (http://www.pegasusautoracing.com/pdfs/069.pdf) graemlins/thumbsup.gif

ORENCH
Thanks for the info. I was just brainstorming, and it seemed logical to me. The problem is, what seems logical to me doesn't necessairly end up being all that logical in the end. When in doubt ask those who know the real answers.
Thanks, Bakes

Forgot to mention that you need to be very careful, not to damage the bleeder's hole seat, at the bottom of the threads. Also, the tap needs to be the shallow one. Not the one used to start the threads. Like this one. http://www.mcmaster.com/param/images/taps/hand_250x50.gif

You can swap your caliper for a rebuilt one pretty cheaply.
David

I like David's idead about a rebuilt. You never know what could end up in the caliper if you drill it out.