brake line repair

well after dropping my rear subrame to derust every thing i noticed my brake lines wete getting a little rusty so decided to rust treat them and paint them so they would last another MOT. Unfortunatly after unclipping the left side, fluid started dripping from the line, so they are a lot worse than i thought. anyway was just wondering does the line run front to back or does it have a joining point half way and can anyone recomend a brakeline repair kit. cheers in advance Paul

Are you talking about the hard line ? It's fairly easy to sort out.
You can get some copper pipe brake line. What you want to do is cut the rusty bit off... Copy the piece you have cut off in copper. Flare the ends and join it on.. Bleed the system refil and bleed again.

You will need a special tool to flare

You can buy a brake flaring tool for about £40 and brake pipe will cost you about £12 
Follow that brake pipe back till you find a point where the brake pipe is clean and solid cut it and join it there some people don't perfer the cut and join method and perfer to fit the complete line but it's perfectly fine to cut and join it and there are no joins in the original brake pipe work.

I think its frowned upon from alot of mot testers ..... if you get your old one off most local motor factors will flare the ends on with nipples to the length you need so all you have to do is bend it and clip it into place ...

Join them in front of the rear floor with proper flared ends and you will be ok. i would go for kunifer pipe as its a bit better than copper. Also go to nissan and buy some plastic chasis clips for the pipes as all mine broke getting them out

Trace them back to the nearest joint mate. Anything else as I'm sure everyone will agree is a bit of a poor repair but if you have too like I did then you have no choice

cheers for all the replies guys. will get on it after the easter weekend since everything is shut till then. think i'll replace as much of the line as possible. The other side doesnt look to great so think I'll do that one while i'm at it too.

keastygtir wrote:Join them in front of the rear floor with proper flared ends and you will be ok. i would go for kunifer pipe as its a bit better than copper. Also go to nissan and buy some plastic chasis clips for the pipes as all mine broke getting them out

How much were the clips from nissan? I bought nylon p clips and stainless self trappers in preparation for this job.

How did you get on with flaring the fuel lines in the end? I read about soldering olives onto the end of the kunifer pipes as a swage for the rubber hose, obviously this only applies to brand new unused pipe.

They were about a quid each. They aren't exactly the same but fit fine

i've started to remove my rear brake lines, starting from the rear brakes and working my way to the engine bay. Im also going to do the fuel lines and it appears they are all fitted together and can be removed together? Do the 2 rear brake pipes go straight to the ABS block and simply need unbolting from there? I assume they dont go to the brake cyl first?

Also while unbolting the metal pipe holders from under the floor pan, most of the bolts snapped. Anyone know the best way of getting them out? I was thinking of drilling a hole through the center of snapped bolt and seeing if a could jam a screwdiver in?

Yes try the screwdriver or a easy out. Just go up drill bit sizes and tap new thread in.

Cheers Johny

This weekend i managed to trace the rear brake line which runs from the underside, up the engine bay then along the back of of the inlet manifold to the brake cylinder. So i need the manifold out to remove the pipes right?
Is it easier to remove the manifold by removing the plenum cover first with a cut down allen key or just levering the whole lot out?