Gang,

my calipers are shot. I have new ones, and new hoses, but I can't get the metal unions undone. I have been dousing them with PB blaster for the past two weeks, I have flare nut wrenches. When I tried tonight, the flat surfaces on the hose portion started to crumble.

Since I would rather spare myself the fun of walking to the parts store to buy a metal flaring tool, I was wondering if anyone could give some good advice on how to loosen these fittings without trashing them.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Mike

I just went through this on both front calipers and ended up replacing the brake lines all the way to the junction box. Sorry.

uggghhhhhh.... that just sucks.

What type of line did you use? DId you just buy one long coil and cut it to fit?

What size line did you use? FItting size?

Can I ask how long it took you to do?

Thanks.

Mike

Well, I bought new OEM Volve lines with fittings from www.borton.com. The Volvo line is cupric-steel and very flexible. It also comes pre-cut with fittings already installed, avoiding the ISO metric flare issues. Just let them know EXACTLY which lines you need and they'll ship. The price was reasonable considering I did not have to cut and flare them. They come coiled in a box.

Fishing them through the fender holes and then around the engine compartment required a little dexterity. Get a small tubing bender so you can make the sharp bends without kinking the tube. I found the cheapie Chinese-made one at my local discount auto supply to be easier to use and better than the more expensive Lisle tool.

I also replaced the flexible rubber lines at the same time, since those hose ends were corroded and shot too. I installed the stainless-covered IPD hoses since I had a set lying around, but they are not essential. Generic brake hoses are fine.

Finally, both front calipers were shot: dust seals torn and leaking, pistons a little corroded. I ended up getting rebuilds from FCPGroton which were great.

This job started out as new front pads and ended up as new front brake lines, brake hoses, calipers, and pads. Expect the worst.

Hi steve,Did the calipers (Girling i presume since your car is exactly like mine a 1990 740 GL Regina) come with the mounting brackets from Fcp groton.
I ask this cos I am also having problems with torn rubber boots and stuck pins twice(lubed and replaced) and i am thinking of getting new rebuilt calipers from fcpgroton.
BUT i bought two 287mm(11.5 in)ATE rotors thinking that i will increase my stock 262mm(10.5) rotors so I need bigger MOUNTING BRACKETS.
I asked eeuroparts and they said they do come with the mounting brackets.
Worldpac does not guarantee bracket size though.
thanks for the info
Tom in Toronto

Thanks for the advice dude. I really appreciate it.

I checked out the junkyard today and grabbed a handful of brake lines that were easy to take off. I have a NY car, I now live in GA so the lack of salt here makes things incredibly easy to loosen. As a side note, I will NEVER EVER buy a northern car again after what I've seen salt do to a car. uggh.

The drivers side are fairly easy to snake through the holds in the fenderwells, but the passenger side... hmmm...

Good advice on always expecting the worse.

Thanks again.

Mike