Although the RAVE method usually works, I've my own way of bleeding the air out of the system. Have a go at this:
You can start filling through the top hose connector on the inlet manifold and once it won't take any more there (preferably fill with neat anti-freeze), connect the hose and start filling at the header tank. Rather than rely on the air finding it's way out of the bleed at the top of the radiator, I usually take the pipe off that and leave it open. Sooner or later, coolant will start to dribble out of the nipple on the radiator. When it does, squeeze the top hose, put a finger over the nipple and release the top hose. That will push air out of the nipple but suck coolant in from the header tank as the hose returns to normal shape. Just keep on doing that, squeeze, plug the hole, release, squeeze, plug the hole, release, etc. You'll notice the level going down in the header tank quite quickly and every time you squeeze the top hose you'll hear bubbling in the pipes too. Just keep topping up the header tank until you can squeeze the top hose and not hear any bubbling somewhere in the bowels of the engine.
Then connect the bleed pipe and give the top hose another squeeze. You should see a jet of coolant inside the top of the tank from the bleed. Give it a couple of more goes. Squeeze the top hose, finger over the hole just inside the header tank, release the hose. Keep doing that until you can't hear any bubbling. Then, and only then, start the engine. Let it idle with the header tank cap off and watch for any air bubbles appearing in there. Again, a quick squeeze on the top hose should shift anything still in there. The level will rise as the heat causes the coolant to expand but if it starts overflowing, you've still got air in there somewhere (air expands far more than coolant so any air locks will expand and force the coolant out). Once the stat opens (top hose gets hot), the level may drop, just keep topping it up. If you've got rid of the air, you should see a nice steady stream out of the bleed pipe into the header and the level will stay steady. If the level drops or rises rapidly you've still not got all the air out so switch the engine off and do a bit more squeeze and plug. When you are happy there's no more air in there, put the cap on the header tank.
The car wants to be sitting level or if this isn't possible get it so the front right corner is highest so any air will rise up to the header tank. They can be a bit of a bastard to bleed completely. I bought mine with a blown head gasket, changed that, filled the header tank up just like I would on any other car and took it for a run down the road. I managed about 3 miles before the gauge shot up to the top, the red light came on and there was steam coming out of the header tank overflow. Fortunately, I still had a gallon of water in the boot so let the pressure escape, refilled it and limped home before reading the book and spending a bit more time doing it properly.
Have fun
