No , no brake pipe replacment is body off. Just get somebody with the right gear and make a small extension joint, you could buy a on car flaring tool from the bay of E and do it yourself.
Member Since: 24 Oct 2017
Location: Aberdeenshire
Posts: 48
Thanks Flack,
The ironic thing is I'm only changing the rubber hoses as the system is already drained while I swap out the back pipes, the hoses themselves were actually in decent condition too!
I’ll pop off the arch liner this evening and get a better look at the access.
I generally like to minimise unnecessary joins - I’m hoping that because the front right pipe is the shortest and very close the the ABS pump I might be able to replace that length in its entirety. If not it’s good to know that there should be enough space to pop an join in.
I’ll keep you posted and take some pics.
Thanks again,
Russell
19th Sep 2023 8:09 am
Russellg
Member Since: 24 Oct 2017
Location: Aberdeenshire
Posts: 48
Just an update on the brake union,
With a view to swapping out the pipe as a single continuous length I started pulling out the battery box, Aux batt, DC/DC converter and brackets etc, but after tracing the pipe from the ABS pump down behind bulkhead I determined that it’s not really an option to replace in situ.
So, in line with @Flack 's recommendation, I manoeuvred the end of the of pipe out from the wheel arch to add a short C/N extension, but unfortunately my SP tool was just a bit too big to flare the end on the car (I ‘could’ have made it work but I wanted to aviold as much as possible unnecessarily bending of the OEM steel pipe).
Luckily I had a smaller tool to hand that I used to use as a boy racer - it's had some action over the years and I’ve had some challanges with it and steel pipe before but it actually formed the flare quite well on the D4 steel pipe, probaby helped by the massive wheel arches and easy access.
I'm still not sure why the fitting stripped on removal, I've never had an issue before on a newish car like this, and the other 7 identical unions on the car were removed without any trouble.
Looking the stripped fitting a bit closer I probably could have salvaged it with a M10x1.0 die, but I don’t have one of them in my Aldi Tap & Die set plus I’d never actually be happy with it. If I ever get the opportunity I will certainly swap out that pipe with a continuous length though.....
Thats the trouble with most of the metal on these things it made of chinesium soft crap, had to do this a lot over the years especially on the rear of the car's. Good job ..
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum