Twin leading shoe drums are notoriously difficult to bleed.

I had mine done once by a pro shop (having tried at home for some time). The guy complained about how much fluid he’d wasted and asked me not to ever come back.

Bench bleeding the master (if starting from scratch) will help. Loosening off the adjusters as far as possible can help (tighten them up once air is removed....). Progressively bleeding at each joint in the system moving away from the master can help.

I have an Ezi-bleed and a Sears vacuum kit. If one doesn’t work then the other usually does...

About the only real advice I can offer is ..keep going... Eventually you’ll get there ..You aren’t alone :)

Cheers, Ian

good tip

Get a pair of small needle nose vise grips, put fuel line on the ends. Use this to clamp of the rubber brake hose to each wheel. Press the brake pedal and see if you can get a firmer pedal. You may be able to narrow the problem down to a certain wheel.

Start with the basics ( a check-list):
adjust the brakes as suggested, including the hand-brake.
The procedure for bleeding a Mini is to start with the wheel farthest from the master cylinder (pipe length).
Get a piece of clear plastic tubing, attach it to the bleeder and put the free end into a jar of brake fluid so you can see the bubbles come out.
Make sure the master cylinder reservoir is full and stays that way so you don't pump more air into the system.
If you don't get flow at the back wheels when the pedal is pushed, try pushing it gently. On some Minis, there is some sort of proportioning/limiting valve (I forget the name) that may close if pushed too hard. If all your hoses and lines are in good condition, it should flow easily.
Continue bleeding at each wheel until you get clean brake fluid with no bubbles. The do it some more to be sure.
Don't ruse the fluid in the jar - it may contain dissolved water.

1. Once you have one wheel fully bled, move to the next one.
2. On the twin-leading front cylinders, are they assembled properly so air can escape? (On disc brakes, not your case,  sometimes people get the left and right calipers mixed and the bleeders are not in the right position.
3.  
4.  

Have you adjusted brakes? If they are too far out of adjustment you will not get any pedal pressure.

so i undid the pipe that comes out of the master cylinder and put a blanking plug in there,  immediately got a hard pedal, therefore i conclude the master cylinder is ok. 

You even highlighted my direction, Read it again, I did not write inject into finger, I wrote use your finger so air does not get sucked back in.

Google hydraulic injection injury, read the words and look at the pictures, and reconsider this advice/practice.

Horrible idea.

For the amount of time it takes, I normally just pull the master cylinder to check it on the bench (no fingers involved) by putting a blanking plug in the outlet port and seeing if the pushrod will move up.  There's usually brake fluid in the footwell though.

I have found with the old single line master outside of bleeding it on its own that if it is bad that when all wheel cylinder bleed valves are closed and you are able to press the brake pedal and it still goes to the floor it's time for a rebuild.

Instead of trying to bleed the whole system, just do the masters themselves.  Use a small pipe so the fluid doesn't get all over. You use your finger so the air doesn't get sucked back in. If you are satisfied with the pressure, reattach to lines and bleed system, starting with the furthest cylinder from master.

 You have to be realistic, how old are the masters and what fluid you're using. DOT 3 fluid attracts water and rusts  (pitting). DOT 5 silicone does not attract water and lasts for decades. 

if you are bleeding brakes and getting no joy at what point do you suspect the master cylinder?
have been trying the two-man-open-valve-then-pedal-down-and-hold-then-close-valve-then-pedal-up technique with no joy.
1964 twin leading shoe model. 

thnz barry
new zealand