[cross-posted to other places]
I've got an 03/87 production 325is that I am prepping as a dedicated HPDE car. It's a 195k mile minnesota car and there are lots of formerly metal things that are no longer road worthy. (the car seemed to be ordered with the factory "orange fasteners" package)
Today's patient was the 3 _meter_ brake pipe that runs from the front of the car to the rear brake splitting valve. I put about 8 hours into bending this thing and got it all lined up and whaddya know, i've got what seems to be a fair bit of extra pipe up at the engine bay end of things.
Now, someone has tried this repair before - in the middle of the run, they cut and flared a non-BMW fitting, a female-female union, some non-BMW pipe and fittings, and then closer to the engine bay end of things they did another female-female union, with a non-BMW end on one end of the pipe and a proper BMW end on the other.
The "BMW end" of this last run goes into a 3" long brass hex female-female union (14mm wrench fits on it) and goes into a normal chassis-standoff where a brake pipe and a brake hose would normally meet. Except here, there are BMW style brake hard pipes on both sides of this thing - the one that DOESN'T go back to the rear of the car goes forward towards the ABS unit.
Is this brass hex coupling a factory part? RealOem.com doesn't show anything like it.
Also, the way I've got the pipe I ran routed, having it come up right under the chassis mount point is the best i could do - there's no room for a 3" brass coupling.. but a 1" or less coupling could work.
Is this 3" brass part just merely a coupling, or is it a proportioning valve or something else? And can I get one in a smaller size? Assuming there is no mechanical function to this pipe, where can i get BMW style female-female couplers? And, failing that, is there anything tremendously wrong using normal brake hose to complete this?
As an aside, to see any of this obviously I've got my brake M/C out as well as the vacuum booster. With the MC out the thought naturally arises - should I just replace this thing since it's out? Anyway to test/rebuild an MC? THe car didn't have "fantastic" brakes when I was driving it (in May) but it was running old rusted pipes, and original rubber lines. To be fair, it did have R4 full race pads, new rotors, and rebuilt calipers at all corners. With all new rear brake hard pipes, new rear distribution valve, and SS lines coming.. the MC is the only other possible brake component yet to replace, right.. should I just "do it" ?
As an aside, the "next time" I buy a car this old I'm taking it down to the unibody and starting over. Digging as far as you think you need to only to find that there is perpetually 10% more work you _could_ do while you're in there is killing me. With the D/S, exhaust, heat sheilds, and entire interior (including dash!) out of the way I figured this would be a great time to remove/rebuild the shift console and get a new shifter.. problem is...i've got the harmonic balancer so that'd need to come off also.. and then I was looking for where the other end of the shift console ended up and noticed that the massive gunk buildup wasn't only a rear tranny seal leak.. but the selector shaft seal also looks like its partying.. and before you know it a "while i am in there, do the shifter" job was sounding like a "you've still got time to pull the tranny, R&R the seals, and while you're in there do a 9lb flywheel and clutch, all before your track day Oct 13th"
Yeah. I got the hell out from under the car before I did any more damage to my schedule
Matt
87 325is (begging to start track duty)
88 M5 (begging to retire from track duty)
88 Audi 90Q (begging for winter)
00 Passat (begging for its garage spot back)
I've got an 03/87 production 325is that I am prepping as a dedicated HPDE car. It's a 195k mile minnesota car and there are lots of formerly metal things that are no longer road worthy. (the car seemed to be ordered with the factory "orange fasteners" package)
Today's patient was the 3 _meter_ brake pipe that runs from the front of the car to the rear brake splitting valve. I put about 8 hours into bending this thing and got it all lined up and whaddya know, i've got what seems to be a fair bit of extra pipe up at the engine bay end of things.
Now, someone has tried this repair before - in the middle of the run, they cut and flared a non-BMW fitting, a female-female union, some non-BMW pipe and fittings, and then closer to the engine bay end of things they did another female-female union, with a non-BMW end on one end of the pipe and a proper BMW end on the other.
The "BMW end" of this last run goes into a 3" long brass hex female-female union (14mm wrench fits on it) and goes into a normal chassis-standoff where a brake pipe and a brake hose would normally meet. Except here, there are BMW style brake hard pipes on both sides of this thing - the one that DOESN'T go back to the rear of the car goes forward towards the ABS unit.
Is this brass hex coupling a factory part? RealOem.com doesn't show anything like it.
Also, the way I've got the pipe I ran routed, having it come up right under the chassis mount point is the best i could do - there's no room for a 3" brass coupling.. but a 1" or less coupling could work.
Is this 3" brass part just merely a coupling, or is it a proportioning valve or something else? And can I get one in a smaller size? Assuming there is no mechanical function to this pipe, where can i get BMW style female-female couplers? And, failing that, is there anything tremendously wrong using normal brake hose to complete this?
As an aside, to see any of this obviously I've got my brake M/C out as well as the vacuum booster. With the MC out the thought naturally arises - should I just replace this thing since it's out? Anyway to test/rebuild an MC? THe car didn't have "fantastic" brakes when I was driving it (in May) but it was running old rusted pipes, and original rubber lines. To be fair, it did have R4 full race pads, new rotors, and rebuilt calipers at all corners. With all new rear brake hard pipes, new rear distribution valve, and SS lines coming.. the MC is the only other possible brake component yet to replace, right.. should I just "do it" ?
As an aside, the "next time" I buy a car this old I'm taking it down to the unibody and starting over. Digging as far as you think you need to only to find that there is perpetually 10% more work you _could_ do while you're in there is killing me. With the D/S, exhaust, heat sheilds, and entire interior (including dash!) out of the way I figured this would be a great time to remove/rebuild the shift console and get a new shifter.. problem is...i've got the harmonic balancer so that'd need to come off also.. and then I was looking for where the other end of the shift console ended up and noticed that the massive gunk buildup wasn't only a rear tranny seal leak.. but the selector shaft seal also looks like its partying.. and before you know it a "while i am in there, do the shifter" job was sounding like a "you've still got time to pull the tranny, R&R the seals, and while you're in there do a 9lb flywheel and clutch, all before your track day Oct 13th"
Yeah. I got the hell out from under the car before I did any more damage to my schedule
Matt
87 325is (begging to start track duty)
88 M5 (begging to retire from track duty)
88 Audi 90Q (begging for winter)
00 Passat (begging for its garage spot back)
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