The BEST way is to get a Russel Speed bleeder, or a MityVac bleeder system . Either one makes the job pretty painless.
In lieu of that get a CLEAN clear glass, and a length of rubber hose that will fit over the existing bleeder. This needs to be a tight fit over the bleeder. Winsheild washer hose works well for this :
- assemble everything
- fill the master cylinder
- break loose the fitting at the caliper
- pull the lever half way and hold (you can use a rubber band to hold the lever in place)
- let the fluid gravity feed and leak from the caliper fitting (this will help draw some of the air out of the new line, make sure and keep the master filled as you go along)
- when it looks like you are getting a steady stream of fluid tighten the caliper fitting BEFORE you let the lever return
- fill the clean glass with a few inches of CLEAN brake fluid
- connect one end of the hose to the bleeder and drop the other end into the glass of brake fluid. You can now see when there is still air in the system (bubbles) , and you can't accidentally suck air into the system unless you let the master cylinder run dry.
- Now you can bleed it pretty much in the normal fashion.
- You can try leaving the bleeder open and pumping the brakes to speed up the process (pushing and pulling fluid). This doesn't work with all master cylinders though.
It's usually helpful to tap on the caliper with a screwdriver handle to dislodge air bubbles trapped in the corner.
With the MityVac you can pretty much pull the air out of the system in a much simpler fashion.