In refurbishing my brakes I removed the connector tube between the caliper halves and for one of the calipers, there was enough oxidation that one leg of the tube twisted when I was removing it. It's no longer trustworthy, as far as I'm concerned.

Replacement tubes, only available via Porsche (Brembo doesn't offer these separately) are about $120, each. Ouch. So, I'm exploring making my own, as I anticipate this won't be the last time I have to do this. Onto the question.

Supposing one were to leave the connector tube "missing" 2 of the bends, as mocked up below:


The 2 missing bends would bring the middle of the tube in between the 2 little fingers which are cast into the caliper. Usually, there is a foam tube thing that lives around the tubing and fits into the fingers



Apart from looking really not stock, are there safety issues that I would need to worry about, if I were to do this?

Honestly, I think it would bug me forever if I actually did this but I'm also trying to work out what could go wrong, apart from aesthetics. I seriously doubt that I will leave the final product like this, which is why I'm taking the time to work on the bends and dimension in aluminum, which is what's shown here. I have some time to mess around since the correct flaring tool for these calipers is coming from the UK.

Cheers

 

i would tape masons twine to the original line to get the correct length and pick up a double bubble line from belmetric. (shortest length is 10"). Cunifer bends super easy but adding the sleeve might require creativity.

 

@thomasmryan : I thought I was golden with the BelMetric parts until I found that they're only available in 10" as the shortest length. I didn't take a picture but that was the test just prior to this one shown above. Without shortening the BelMetric parts, the tube sticks WAY out, far away from the little cradle bit. It's sort of comical looking. I'm with you on the mason's line and have measured out ~9 inches that are needed, from opening to opening.

The silver lining is that the fittings from the BelMetric lines are fantastic (Cohline, I believe) and can be used once I figure out the what and how of things. I bought some Cunifer and will use that; I don't want to mess around with steel. For the sleeve, I ended up using some silicone tubing of appropriate size, slit down the middle. This was on the rear calipers, which were not anywhere near as troublesome as these fronts are turning out to be. My goal this weekend is to get the spring plates removed, which will require some welding.

Cheers