Hey Jones,
There was a rubber boot, although was perished so possibly the cause.
Also the bike sat for 14 year and all fluid was drained out.
The good news is it looks to have polished up well with a hone and steel wool treatment.
Have reassembled with new kit and at some time in the near future will hopefully get to commission and see if it holds pressure.
Thanks for your advice mate- appreciated.
Mosto, priming the brake system, simply
master-cylinder/hoses/caliper circuits, nothing magic or complicated here whatsoever,
quick and effortless with the right trick, no two-hour dramas of never-ending lever pumping
and over-night tying of lever with zipties and re-doing over and over and all sorts of other
BS .. 1. Fill reservoir with fluid. 2. Pump lever a few times with caliper
bleeders CLOSED. 3. Open the bleeders(8mm spanner) with lever pulled in, multi-tasking
is needed lol.. 4. close bleeders. 5. Few more pumps.. 6. (the trick) ..get a syringe with nicely-fitted
4-inch approx length of fuel-hose (transparent is best but not a big-deal) stuck firmly to caliper bleeder.
7. Pull lever in ,open bleeder, suck fluid thru with syringe. 8. CLOSE bleeder. 9. Swap to other caliper and do the same..
10. keep up the squeezing and sucking thing.. Before you know it you've got it all sussed SOLID FIRM ZERO bubbles..
Top up reservoir along the way and don't worry about "wasting" syringes of fluid.. Sorry jonesy mate, shortest i could make it... hehe