Its not that hard.  I never bleed brakes with the engine running.  Just go RR, LR, RF, LF and hook a section of 3/16" clear vinyl tubing to the bleeder with it cracked.  Put the end in a clear jar, plastic bottle, etc. with enough clean brake fluid to cover the end of the hose.  Then start pumping.  Probably 20-30 strokes at each bleeder will have all the air out.  I recommend tapping on the calipers with a plastic mallet while doing this to get all the trapped air out.  The 4 piston calipers can be a paint to bleed.  That should get you real close, maybe even perfect.  If not perfect after driving just go through it again, but you can drop down to 5-10 strokes per bleeder.  Check the reservoir after 15 strokes and refill.  Drums move a lot less fluid, so you can probably get 20-25 without having to worry about refilling, but the calipers move a lot so be cautious. 

I've never had any luck gravity bleeding anything.  This method has ALWAYS worked on all braking systems and clutches. 

Yes, in theory it should work.  I've just never seen theory meet reality in my garage.  I think its possible for the system to be air bound if its empty, and this is why it doesn't work, at least on an empty system.

I can't think of a reason reverse pressure bleeding wouldn't work on an older car, but it would be disastrous on anything with ABS. 

Gravity bleeding is a thing I learned on this forum.  It is my favorite method.

Bench bleed the mc first.
Do not install the mc lid while gravity bleeding.
Do in order  LR, RR, RF, LF , or just open all four at once and keep the mc filled as they all drain.
Use clear tubing from each bleeder so you can see when air is gone.

50vert wrote:

I think the rear before the front thing is a leftover from the single chamber cylinder days. Can't see a reason why it'd be necessary on a dual chamber cylinder. Been wrong before though.

I can't speak for all vehicles, but I have gone out of order before and braking wasn't really right.  The fronts came on too early, seeming to indicate either an imbalance or that there was still air in the rear portion of the system.  Bleeding in the correct order fixed the issue.  I've certainly changed a caliper, wheel cylinder, etc. and only bled the one I changed with no ill effects.  Mostly that was due to fear the other bleeders would break if I tried to crack them open.  On say a Japanese vehicle where I know all the bleeders will work I'd still bleed the entire system in order even for work done at just one wheel, though I'd purge most of the air from that one wheel first, then go in order.

FWIW, some vehicles with split diagonal ABS must be bled in a different order.  My WRX is like that.  Typically your FSM will give the bleeding order. 
 

OK Im driving the car now and have a weird problem. this has done it when backing into the garage and pulling into a parking spot Sunday and this morning right after slowing down to turn off a main street. This is it the car shuts down for a split second, not off but kinda like someone turned the key for just a split sec, almost like I took all the air from it. I am getting my booster vac from the same place as the tranny. Car has never done this till I added the power brakes. IDEAS please. 

Chris

I always break pads in as follows: 5 low effort stops from 50mph with 5 minutes cooling between.  5 medium effort stops from 50mph with 10 minutes cooling between.  5 high effort (not locked up) stops from 50mph with 15 minutes cooling in between.  Or as close as I can reasonably get to that.  I've found not only do the brakes work better but they also last longer.  I went from an average pad life of 20k on my K5 to 35k just by doing this.  Same pads, and 3 brake jobs each way to pretty much even out any other reason as to why. 

Don’t forget adjusters only work when braking while backing up.

Slamming on the brakes at speed with brand new pads and shoes is the most sure fire way to destroy the pads and shoes.  They must be bedded in over several hundred miles to avoid ruining them Immediately.

Pad materials on most “lifetime warranty” pads are typically so hard they do not stop as well as the cheapo pads.

Years ago the manufacturers made pads softer to save the rotors, so they could be turned 3-4 times before being too thin and needing to be replaced.  Nowadays the rotors are considered consumable, and its rare to find a place that even turns them anymore.  Most shops either replace the rotors during a brake job, or just slap new pads on the old rotors so long as there was no customer complaint about a pulse or vibration from the pedal during braking.  The high end pads are now very hard, typically ceramic.  On something like my DD I buy the ambulance service pads because they last the longest, and I know the rotors are getting replaced when I do them anyway.  On the fun cars I usually go with something like EBC or Hawk pads because they stop the best.  DBA rotors are awesome if they are available for the application.  Made in Oz, not China.  Powerstop rotors are also decent. 

Oreilly's  sells spring loaded check valves. Just crack open the check valve one at a time and pump the brake petal.  The spring loaded check valve opens allowing the air and brake fluid out. Release the brake petal and the check valve closes not allowing air in. Simple and quick. Later Dude