mike77

I went to change out the flexible hoses on the rear brakes yesterday and discovered the nut on the hard line side was completely corroded. It broke apart and fell off when I attempted to clean it up with a wire brush. So i see two options. 1 - cut the hard line back a bit and replace the fitting. 2 - replace the lines.

Stupidly I didn't trace the lines back the way. I can see in the parts catalogue the lines trace back to a distributor. Where is this distributor located? Is it all the way back in the engine bay or somewhere at the rear? If it is a short run I might just get replacements delivered from porsche and swap them. Really just looking for the easiest fix here. There doesn't look like there is much room to make a repair in situ

GlenL

Broke apart? I've had them stuck but they've never dissolved.

The distributor block is mounted at the rear of the vehicle.

mike77

Yes literally broke into pices and fell off when I went to clean them with a small wire brush. Think I'm glad I decided to do this job when I did. Porsche got back to me and the rear lines are £28 plus vat each, so not bad. I'll have a look under the car later tonight and trace them back to the distributor and decided how hard it will be for me to replace them. There wasn't much room there.

dr bob

On LHD cars, that block is on the rear side of the lower rear bulkhead, immediately forward of the battery box. The spot is inconvenient to access, but not impossible. Of course, on the LHD car, the brake line runs under the left seats to that spot, so on a RHD car it may easily be forward of the fuel tank and not far from the end you are working on.

Cheburator

The distributor is in exactly the same place on a RHD car as on a LHD one. Changing one of the lines will be very easy, it is very short and costs nothing from OPC. The other line however, goes above the gearbox and could be a right pain in the bum to route through and fix. Do not even think about working on them without removing the rear section of the exhaust.

Hope this helps,

Alex

mike77

So I've been crawling around under my car and have decided I think I'd rather pay my local indie to do this job for me. As you say one side looks easy but the other looks like a nightmare.

dr bob

The right side line is 'hidden' on the bulkhead forward of the fuel tank, but in fact it's not at all tough to get out or replace. It's almost straight, just a couple very slight jogs. IIRC there are three mounting points total. I'm pretty sure it can be R&R's without pulling the fuel tank. Pulling the tank means you can sit in the well and see everything, makes it easier but isn't mandatory. The "T" at the battery box is brass IIRC, so shouldn't be seized to the nut. Use good-qualty flare nut wrenches. I used crowfoot-type wrenches to apply pressure from the left side of the car through the wheelwell opening with tire removed, with a regular crowfoot holding the "T" and a crowfoot flare-nut wrench on the nuts. It was a little fiddly, but once everything was lined up with extensions and all, the actual breakaway on the nuts was a breeze.

mike77

I'm sure its doable but it looks like a crappy job on axle stands. I'll have another look but think I'll probably farm it out to my local indie. Currently working on a to do list for him. So far I'm thinking

Brake lines
nylon fuel lines replacing the hard lines
stainless steel fuel tank cradle
RMB as a bonus

Paddcomp

Sorry to resurrect a thread, but I'm in the same position as the OP. Mike77 how did you get on with replacing the hard lines?
I've had lines made up in cunifer, just need shaping. Same issue of poor acccess from axle stands and want to ask a local garage to drop the exhaust and replace the lines.
My local garage isn't a 928 specialist, but as the brakes won't be too hot I need the nearest not the best!

mike77

My mechanic is a porsche specialist but I don't think he needed to use his specialist skills. I think he just dropped the exhaust and fabricated some new lines using standard materials. He did mention that he did need to replace the T connection. Unless he happened to have a porsche one lying around he must have just used a standard fitting as he had the car back the same day with no time to order parts. Should all be standard stuff for a good mechanic.

Obviously you'll need to bleed the brakes. Have you checked the bleed nipples are free?

FredR

The beauty of living where I am is that we do not [seemingly] get any corrosion issues - everything under my 928 is almost like new- kind of makes up for the heat degradation elsewhere not to mention the tyres only last 3 years and then you are on borrowed time.

Rgds

Fred

Paddcomp

Thanks Mike,
All good news, just what I wanted to hear. The calipers will be as new, as they're being refurbed by a brake specialist at the moment. I'm hoping that the hard line will still hold enough pressure to bleed the brakes myself as the calipers have been off for a few weeks. It didn't snap but twisted, so fingers crossed.

GregBBRD

Unfortunately this is very common. The nuts, which are supposed to spin freely on the lines, collect moisture and freeze on the line.

If you work on these cars on a daily basis, these lines are a must to keep in inventory.

Rob Edwards

For whatever it's worth, here's the location of the rear brake distributor.

kevinr

Second resurrection of this thread.

As I read through the posts above, I can't tell for sure if one can replace the long right side rear brake hard line with the transmission still in place. The hard line clearly threads over the transmission, and if there are any attachment points up there I'm sunk (and my read of Dr Bob implies there might be).

My hard line fittings ARE irreversibly seized so the wise course seems to be to replace both the left and right side hard line.

Anyone successfully replace that right side line with the transmission and suspension still in place? I am so hoping the answer is yes…

Any tips or success stories welcome. Thank guys.