Brake lines and the salt belt, safety first!

Dirtyd0g

Registered User
In the process of a complete brake line overhaul. Not much progress to begin but over the next week the transformation should complete.
For starters lets have a look at why we need to make these changes and how we can prevent the changes from ever needing to be done again.

The rear lines I have several pictures of and all are good, however to save space I will just post one.
rears.jpg


The fronts were terrible maybe even worse. The passenger side line that goes down in front is scary and does not appear to be leaking, I do not know how.
LF.jpg


The driver side is actually the only one leaking, because it has the flex hose in it. While the flex hose is important I prefer to put a loop in it to allow the vibration of the abs pump to be absorbed without adding a point for leaks. If you want to put an hose here it could probably be done for about $35 using fittings like we will be using on the brake hoses later and a very short -an3 hose. Having done this several times without incident I prefer to not install another hose.
RF.jpg

Plumbing supplies for completely new copper nickel alloy hard lines with braided stainless flexible hoses.
Mastercool deluxe flaring tool
10ft 3/8 copper nickel alloy tubing
100ft 3/16 copper nickel alloy tubing
3/16 x3ft stainless steel protective coils x5
braided stainless brake hoses with clips and fittings in metric and standard thread x4
braided stainless transmission hoses x2
stainless sae tube nuts for the low portion so they may never rust or corrode again.
tubing cutter
new bleeders with rubber caps
quality bending tools and misc other fittings,brackets and clips to complete a professional install
not pictured Long tru-cool cooler and misc brackets to mount cooler
plumbing.jpg
 
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wise choice on the copper nickle alloy brake line. Easy to work with and should not have a significant corrosion issue for an extended period.
 
As a rule with jobs like this start with the hardest part first, Ironically the hardest part on this job is the shortest line. The driver front. It is difficult because it connects directly to the abs unit. The abs unit has to be pulled out a bit which proved to be a challenge more than I expected really. I couldn't get the battery tray out as one of the bolts said it was not going to come out when the welded nut snapped off and spins on the bottom. The 2 side bolts by the battery tray put up a considerable fight as well but alas I conquered this beast.
lfold.jpg


Brake lines much like timing belts I find best to remove intact as much as possible so that you can use them for forming and sizing. To replace the flex section I put a loop in this line. It will absorb the vibration and give decades of trouble free service. The nut at the abs pump was a 10mmx1.0 thread single flare design. I replaced it with a brand new fitting, not shown.
LF2.jpg

The nut at the brake hose I used a 3/8-24 thread double flare to meet the fittings used. I changed this to 3/8 -24 over the stock 10mmx1.0 because the standard thread fittings are easier to get and a couple dollars cheaper. Every penny counts when there is no down side to it.
LF1.jpg

Alan
 
The nut at the abs pump was a 10mmx1.0 thread single flare design.

Was it truly a single flare, or was it a bubble flare? If single, what fitting? 37deg flare? On the Pre-93 ABS, the fittings in the master were all bubble flares.
 
the right front side
rf1.jpg

rf2.jpg

rf3.jpg


I will get the topside when I lower it down. That has a reversed line nut on it and I put a new one of those on as well. This side much like the driver side I welded the retainer tab to the factory bracket, then removed the original line gently and bent a new line. I used an entire 3ft stainless steel protector, realistically it shoudl never do anything. If someone accidentally runs up on a parking stop it will pay for itself quickly.
Alan
 
That can be done, however to make that particular bracket to work perfectly would probably add so much to the price that nobody would want them and require an initial investment that nobody would bother trying to sell them. The fronts on this one I used the stock brackets off the original lines but they had to be welded on so most people will just want to use universal brackets that hold on with a couple sheetmetal screws. The rears I have to make a stock install setup. For custom lines this worked fine however The bracket does have to relocate and I will have to do that with the line. I have a plan for it however.

Trans cooler line Pr0n
cl1.jpg

cl2.jpg

cl3.jpg

cl4.jpg

cl5.jpg


Alan
 
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