It all started so well. I torqued up all the bolts that needed doing. I cleaned the wheels ready to put them back on. I dumped 1.5 litres of water in the cooling system.

I then thought it would be a good idea to tackle the brakes. Having got these fancy new speed bleeders (nipples with a one way valve so that you can just undo a quarter turn, pump away, close again - nice and easy) I thought I'd fit those. A little bit messy but the rears went on ok - though there wasn't as much thread in the caliper body, it seemed alright. The fronts were a little bit messier... but in they went. The threads on these went all the way in... right up to the nut! A little bit worrying as I had to do the nipple up tight to the caliper body, but it seemed to hold fluid... Anyway, I thought I'd then bleed the brakes, introduce some fresh fluid into the system. Rear left went fine, rear right was fine too. Front left ok... I'll just check the nipples at the back aren't leaking... Rear right is weeping a touch. Nip it up and... Well, you know that feeling you get when you know it's going to thread? It threaded. B*llocks. Whipped out the speed bleeder and chucked in the old nipple, I figured there'd be a couple of threads it could grip, and sure enough it did. Finished bleeding the front right and felt thoroughly miserable.

I decided to call it quits on that and stuck the rear wheels on, and put them back on the ground, and lifted the front as high as I could with the jack. Try as I might, the water just isn't going in... Check the manual and I've installed the J hose incorrectly. B*llocks. At least it's just water and not anti-freeze too.

So all in all, a pretty rubbish evening. Days like this really test your resolve, and really make you wonder why you bother. I am going to bed worrying about needing a new rear caliper, that the front nipples will be an issue, and that the speed bleeders were simply a waste of time and I should have just gone with the tried and tested method. Never mind...