Bench bleed for clutch MC?

[Nosser]

Hi all,
Just replaced the clutch slave on my newly acquired 318, I was wary given all the horror story posts regarding bleeding but it went without a hitch...well, almost. Hopped back into the car after installing the slave and had instant pedal pressure, no pump bleeding required, but then noticed brake fluid on my boot - I suppose the master had probably not seen full system pressure in a while and now that the leaky slave was out of the equation it decided to take a dump.

Sooooo, I'll be tackling the slave tomorrow but was wondering if it would be advisable to try to bench bleed it before install in the hopes that I can maintain at least a semi-solid fluid column to help with bleeding. Any input? I have already figured out that I will probably need to pull the slave again so it can bleed with the valve pointing up, but any other pointers that might help before I get my hands dirty would be greatly appreciated.

Since this job seems to cause a lot of problems and prompt a lot of questions I think I may take some pictures and write up a how-to assuming all goes well (or if it doesn't) to maybe save a few redundant posts in the future.

[jlevie]

Bench bleeding of a new master is always a good idea as it makes the bleed process faster once everything is assembled. But if you have a pressure bleeder most of the advantage is moot.

[nando]

I did mine on the car with a pressure bleeder - no problems.

[Nosser]

The one thing I do not have is a pressure bleeder. I do however have a vaccuum bleeder though it was not necessary for the slave replacement. Hopefully I can get by with just that, we shall see.