Replacing Brake hardlines

[psyber_0ptix]

The brake line bender was close to useless. I hand to make most bends carefully by hand and it's not as tight a radius. The brackets that hold the line in were a huge pain. Definitely work from the back to the front though. The hardest part is bending it up and aligning it to the brake pressure valve. I really disliked this job. But it's the most difficult line and I feel it was well worth replacing. I want to be able to drive my car afterall.

[KVF]

The brake line bender was close to useless. I hand to make most bends carefully by hand and it's not as tight a radius. The brackets that hold the line in were a huge pain. Definitely work from the back to the front though. The hardest part is bending it up and aligning it to the brake pressure valve. I really disliked this job. But it's the most difficult line and I feel it was well worth replacing. I want to be able to drive my car afterall.

Thanks for the swift feedback. It sounds like you went with the OE BMW line and pretty much hand bent it. I guess I'll go that same route and I’ll apply some rust inhibitor to all the brake lines when I’m done. Funny you should mention the brake pressure valve as I was looking up at that just wondering how in the world I was going to be able to get a line up to it, and better yet attach the line… Boat loads of fun, oh boy.
Thanks again
K

[E30SPDFRK]

I do brake lines at least once a week at work, I feel your pain. Living by the ocean sucks in this regard.

[phenryiv1]

Just use MightyPutty.

[36brua]

Thanks for the swift feedback. It sounds like you went with the OE BMW line and pretty much hand bent it. I guess I'll go that same route and I’ll apply some rust inhibitor to all the brake lines when I’m done. Funny you should mention the brake pressure valve as I was looking up at that just wondering how in the world I was going to be able to get a line up to it, and better yet attach the line… Boat loads of fun, oh boy.
Thanks again
K

use a regular or flarenut crows foot 'socket' on an extension to reach up/down to valve. a long screw driver or ? can be used to keep pressure on backside of fitting when tightening and help with alignment

[psyber_0ptix]

use a regular or flarenut crows foot 'socket' on an extension to reach up/down to valve. a long screw driver or ? can be used to keep pressure on backside of fitting when tightening and help with alignment

the issue really isn the tightening of the line. It's bending it to get into position. It interferes and wraps around so many other things at that point that when you are under the car, it becomes quite challenging to do with two fingers.

[JoeyBones]

here's a question...has anyone ever tried to make a braided stainless line work as a replacement?...finding ends that work may be difficult, but there are hydraulic shops that would likely be able to help with this...or so I'd think....or just get some generic and replace everything? lol...

[psyber_0ptix]

Probably could. If I were to do full braided lines i'd run it inside the car. However all this would exceed my time, patience, and the $10 cost of the oem hardline

[RoadHazard]

I got new straight OEM hard lines and am about to tackle this job soon. Luckily my trailing arms are not on the car so that might make things go more easily. Crossing fingers.

[psyber_0ptix]

it definitely helps a little space wise to have the trailing arms off and the subframe too.

Unfortunately yesterday, I ended up replacing one of the smaller hardlines in the rear on the passenger side. It was complete cake walk. The long line is definitely the hardest and most intensive. After you've done it, you can do anything... lol

[KVF]

it definitely helps a little space wise to have the trailing arms off and the subframe too.

Unfortunately yesterday, I ended up replacing one of the smaller hardlines in the rear on the passenger side. It was complete cake walk. The long line is definitely the hardest and most intensive. After you've done it, you can do anything... lol

I'm so not looking forward to replacing that stupid line this weekend... My buddy has a 50ft roll of hardline and a nice flaring tool, so I'm figuring to just replace it all since I'll already be pissed beyond measure. Do you know the size of the line fittings off hand? I'd just cut the stock ones off, but I'm sure I'll ruin at least one or two...
Thanks!
K
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I'm now actually thinking of taking out my interior and running the lines inside of the car... Hmmmm?

[psyber_0ptix]

I'm so not looking forward to replacing that stupid line this weekend... My buddy has a 50ft roll of hardline and a nice flaring tool, so I'm figuring to just replace it all since I'll already be pissed beyond measure. Do you know the size of the line fittings off hand? I'd just cut the stock ones off, but I'm sure I'll ruin at least one or two...
Thanks!
K
------------------------------------Edit-----------------------------------------
I'm now actually thinking of taking out my interior and running the lines inside of the car... Hmmmm?

if you get good grommets and can get hardline holders/brackets it would be awesome to run them inside the car. You can exit through the same hole as the ABS sensor for the rear trailing arms. it's quite out of the way and will only expose the ends to the elements. It's so weird, every japanese car i've ever owned, you never throught of replacing brake hardlines because they are all inside the car by the door jam. fuel lines might be another story.

don't quote me on this, but i think the ends are m10x1.0. Just take your stock end to a parts store or use a thread gauge. The lines are also bubble flared not double flared.

where in MA are you? if i weren't moving this weekend/putting my car back together i'd totally offer to help out

[KVF]

if you get good grommets and can get hardline holders/brackets it would be awesome to run them inside the car. You can exit through the same hole as the ABS sensor for the rear trailing arms. it's quite out of the way and will only expose the ends to the elements. It's so weird, every japanese car i've ever owned, you never throught of replacing brake hardlines because they are all inside the car by the door jam. fuel lines might be another story.

don't quote me on this, but i think the ends are m10x1.0. Just take your stock end to a parts store or use a thread gauge. The lines are also bubble flared not double flared.

where in MA are you? if i weren't moving this weekend/putting my car back together i'd totally offer to help out

Thanks for the offer. You've already helped me out quite a bit with the technical insight. ;) I'm sure we'll have a chance to turn some wrenches together in the future, as this E30 bug won't let me go. I'm going to sleep on the inside/outside debate and I'll report back during the weekend (might take pics).

[psyber_0ptix]

you may have to create a hole in the front.... but if you do it successfully, i'll be interested in your progress!

[KVF]

I now know too well what you dealt with. Someone needs to be back slapped real hard for running the brake lines in this fashion. Makes absolutely no sense! Having said that, I'll probably be running them in a very similar fashion. LOL

Once under the car it just seemed too reasonable to start removing the rear diff, trailing arms, and sub frame, as I wanted to freshen up all of the bushings anyway. This makes the brake line far less of an install (only up the bulkhead to tackle). It's now an official way off budget project as I can't resist refreshing/upgrading the full suspension/brakes/drive-shaft as well. I planned on getting to that stuff in year two/three, but eh...

Back to the brakes. My buddy scored a 25 foot roll of "copper" 3/16 line, so it bends much easier and future rust will not be an issue. It's normally 45 bucks for the roll which is pricey, but you can replace everything and not have to worry about it again. My buddy has an inside man and we got the roll for 25 bucks. As luck would have it, I found an old flaring tool set-up in the basement (complete with bubble flare adapter). By the time I get all the parts and freshen everything up, it will probably be 5-7 weeks down the road but it will be done correctly.