DIY : How to install Stainless Steel Line and bleed to your Rx8

[nycgps]

Ok, cut the Bull crap, let me make this a quick and easy to understand tutorial. Update : April 16, 2008 - I need to make this more *complete*. I will have to swap one of the brake lines out cuz I damaged it a bit by accident, not like its leaking or anything, I just want to be *safe* better than sorry hoho. So in the other words, Im gonna have some new picture soon. - Update with some Q&A. 1. What is this DIY for ? - To install your own Stainless Steel brake lines to your Rx8. 2. Why would I need Stainless Steel Brake Lines for my Rx8? My Rubber line seems to be working just fine ! - Well, yes stock rubber hose works just fine, as long as you will not do a lot of *hard braking*. Since rubber expands when heated, the more braking you do, the hotter the brake fluid will become, this results in *decrease* braking feel/performance. Not to mention Rubber will eventually break. Im NOT saying stainless steel brake line will never break, but at least it will last longer than ANY rubber brake lines u will have. Plus with a more *stable* stainless steel brake lines, your brake will feel better and slightly stronger. 3. What do I need to get this done ? - Tools you need A Set of Metric wrench from 8mm to 14mm - Yeah I know you only need a few of them, but I found that some of the tool's size is a bit off. so its better to be safe, right ? A Phillips screw driver - Optional. A Flat headed screw driver - optional. Floor Jack - REQUIRED Jack Stand - 4, REQUIRED ! It is better to have at LEAST 3 ton Jacks, sure 2 Ton jack can hold it just fine, but its better to have the extra strength. Couple of hours of time - Is this your first time? expect at least 3 hours. Lots of old Newspaper - Cause Brake fluid will spill all over, with Newspaper on the floor, clean up will be A LOT easier. Some Clean towel - in case the brake fluid *spill* over your Paint, you MUST wipe it off ASAP. If you leave it there, its going to damage the paint(bubbles, and comes off eventually) Eye protection - Optional, I didnt use it, but its better be safe than sorry. Stainless Steel Brake Line Kit - Any will do, as long as it fits RX-8. REQUIRED Some Small tiny clear plastic tube - I got 15 ft from home depot for 2 bux, this is REQUIRED Torque Wrench - If you have it, use it. I tried but something horrible happened to me. see step 11. 2 bottle of new brake fluid - You can go with DOT 3, but I went DOT 4. Remember, do NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT get DOT 5 ! Well its hard to find them but if u do put them in, say good bye to ur ABS. So, DOT 3 or 4 ONLY !!!!!! You need at LEAST 2 Quart. Brake Parts Cleaner Spray - could be obtain at any auto parts store, like 4-5 bux a bottle. Another person other than yourself - You will need this person to pump your brakes later. 4. Do I need to know anything before I start ? - Before you take anything out, try to remember what it looks like, where it goes, etc. because it will help you ALOT. - Do 1 Line at a time - Dont rush, if you dont have time to spare, dont start. - Brake Dust is something that you DO NOT want to breath it in. So try to keep your nose away from the area as much as possible. If you have any kind of asthma or whatever, u might want to get a respiratory mask. - Gloves, What I did was I put a pair of Latex operation glove on first, then I put a pair of those cotton with Red paint on one side gloves on. Latex gloves is there so no liquid can touch my skin, since brake fluids are bad for kidneys, skins can absorb them without you knowing it. The Red paint kind of gloves are on to help me be able to grab stuff easier. Go to home depot or lowes. You can get both of them, very cheap. Oh one more thing, some people cant take Latex, there are some *non-latex* operation gloves out there. It cost a bit more than their Latex cousin, but its not a bad choice. Ok, Lets go. 1. Jack your car up, all 4 Corners, USE A JACK STAND IF YOU WANT TO LIVE ! DO NOT JUST LEAVE IT ON JACKS, IT MIGHT FALL OFF AND KILL YOU, I AM NOT KIDDING !!!! 2. Try to work on your REAR wheel first. because its easier, I started with the Rear Right - Rear Left - Front Left - and the last of course is Front Right 3. You should do 1 Wheel at a time, 4. See Picture 1, Take a 10mm (or whatever that fits) wrench, and BREAK THIS LOOSE. , just turn it counter-clockwise. Its really tight ? take your screw driver and start knocking your wrench. Easy and make sure your wrench is a tight fit or else you might round the bolt. 5. after breakin' it, push the upper metal Tube away. theres a little sliver/grey clip that holds bottom part of the hose. Now take your Flat Headed Screw driver and try to pry it out, theres a little hole in the middle of the clip. pry it out a bit, then pull it out. 6. REMEMBER your old Brake line's route, like how does it bend, etc. Because you might want to run your new SS line around the same location. REMEMBER IT ! 7. At the end of the brakes line, take the 12 or 11 mm Wrench(forgot) and break it loose, Again counter-clockwise, hammer it lightly with whatever you got. beware, fluids might just splash all over. If the old washer sticks on it, just take it off. make sure its clean. 9. Here is the fun part, take your new uber brand new shinny SS line, the short one for the Rear Brakes(same thing for both left and right), Long ones for the Front of course. 10. Take the right one. in the package there should be some copper-color washer, total of 8, 2 on each brake. and Golden color 4 bolts. Take your SS line, and look at the end, take 2 washers,1 bolt, and put it together like a sandwich in this order Bolt - Washer - SS line - Washer , then put it on your brake and tighten it. You need the 14mm for this one (if you're using the SS line bolt instead of OEM, OEMs are smaller) 11. CAUTION CAUTION ! do NOT over torque it. I tried to use my Torque wrench, I probably an dumbass and dont know how to use it or the wrench might be bad. I set it to about 16 lbs just to be safe. I keep pushing it and ... hmm why wont the Wrench click ? then I push it again and again ... then *crack*, oh YES ! I got it ... wait ..... OH SHIT ! THE BOLT SNAP IN HALF !!!!!!!!!!!! well .... I can reuse the original bolt but just want to let you guys know that. If its tight, leave it. You can always check it later. (See Picture 3, thats the bolt that goes to the brake itself, and one of mine snap in 1/2 because I over torque it .... *sigh) 12. a. - For the REAR brakes, take the top of the hose, push it to the hole, get the clip that came with your SS line(golden color), insert it with the 90 degree little flap facing UP. snap it in place, make sure its tight. b. - a. - For the FRONT brakes, take the top side of the hose, Look at the bolt, and you will wonder why its not exactly an HEX(6 corners) shape, but instead is more like 5 corners with one side thats rounded. when you try to push it up to the hole, make sure you align it right to match the metal bracket hole. then just get the clip and snap it in place. 13. Make sure everything is tight, but not over torque. Do all 4 brakes. 14. To bleed. Fill it up with Fresh new Brake Fluid. Leave the cap Unlock (but dont take it off) 15. Find a person other than yourself to help you. (in my case it was my brother), ask him/her to sit in the driver seat first, go take a 10 mm wrench, put it on your Master Cylinder Bleed screw, tell the dude in the car to *get ready* 16. Open your bleed screw by turning it maybe 1/2 circle to counter clockwise. Tell the dude to FLOOR the brakes, when its all the way down, tell him to tell you that its *down*, when the brake is down, air/maybe some fluid might come out, remember. the dude inside the car should NOT let his foot go. 17. Now, Close your bleed screw 18. Tell him/her to let the brakes go. 19. Do the same thing for another couple of times until u dont see bubbles anymore. ONE THING TO REMEMBER is that, No matter which bleed screw you're dealing with, keep checking your brake fluid level after 3-4 pumps. do NOT let your Brake fluid indicator to go lower than 1/2 way. As soon as you see it almost 1/2, Stop first and refill it to Max before you continue. 20. Now go to your Rear Right Brakes, use the 10mm wrench again, theres a little plastic cap on the bleed screw, just take it off but DONT throw it away ! do the same thing just like what you did to the MC. Remember to Add fluid, if you're thing hits below low you might have to start the WHOLE process all over again. 21. After the RR, do the RL 22. After the RL, go to your Front right 23. Front brake's bleed screw is 8mm in size, so take the 8 mm wrench, and just bleed it like you did before - Notice : For some *reason*, the front right brake drops alot of flluid, so remember to top it off before you bleed. 24. After FR, do FL 25. After FL, Bleed the MC again 26. make sure everything is TIGHT. Put all wheels back on if you havent do so . Top off the Brake Fluid bottle, Make sure no leaks. Spray clean the brakes or area with the brake cleaner or any cleaner that will not damage brake system or paint. Flush it off with water if required. 27. Go have a short and slow test drive, feel the brakes and make sure that it feels *TIGHT* NOT LOOSE!!!!! 28. let it cool off, feel it with ur hand to see if there are any leaks. 29. Go have another test drive. Do a couple more Hard stops this time. I mean HARD stop. like going 50 mph then stop to 0. 30. wait till its cool, check to see if its leaking again. 31. Everything is good? ok, u're done. Notice : When your brake hose is out (step 5), your brake fluid will just keep on leaking, so try to finish it asap, my tank was dry when I did mine, I just bleed everything after. I will take some newer pictures in a few weeks. See the top of this post for updates.

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[nycgps]

I will take some new pictures tomorrow morning. So I can explain my DIY better tomorrow.

Save this post for pictures.

[nycgps]

Another Post for pictures.

[savedsol]

Well...? I'm doing this tomorrow - chop, chop!

[nycgps]

Sorry NYC rain couple of times today its not really a *good* idea to jack it up and take all 4 wheels off.

and I will be busy over the weekend so ....

I promise you I will jack it up on monday, take everything out, take pictures and explain everything in every possible detail

Plus, I might post a more detail DIY to take the tranny down / replace fw / clutch with tons of pics

[RotorWheeee]

I promise you I will jack it up on money, take everything out, take pictures and explain everything in every possible detail

Remember you gotta take lots of picture , I have to see this one .

[nycgps]

Originally Posted by RotorWheeee

Remember you gotta take lots of picture , I have to see this one .

I HATE YOU !

[RotorWheeee]

I still want to see your write up.
I have the brake lines on hand to do the same thing, I just have to find the time to do it . So I'm really looking forward to see your instructions.

[nycgps]

Finally got the pictures uploaded to my comp. But I have alot of them, and I have to resize them.

and I have to rewrite the tutorial, and I have another DIY coming up *radiator*

So give me some time. I will get it done ASAP. thx

[swoope]

Originally Posted by nycgps

Finally got the pictures uploaded to my comp. But I have alot of them, and I have to resize them.

and I have to rewrite the tutorial, and I have another DIY coming up *radiator*

So give me some time. I will get it done ASAP. thx

did you do the clutch line????? i have to do this on thur... jackass...

btw, the beating of the rotors was fun..

http://www.rx8club.com/showthread.php?t=116690

beers

[nycgps]

I did the clutch line when I was doing the FW/Clutch install.

It was almost the same as the process of doing the Brake lines. but the clutch release area .... is really a bitch to get to.

[devildog1679]

Originally Posted by nycgps

I did the clutch line when I was doing the FW/Clutch install.

It was almost the same as the process of doing the Brake lines. but the clutch release area .... is really a bitch to get to.

Getting my hand in to remove the clutch bleeder screw was a bitch. I replaced it with speed bleeders.

[nycgps]

instead of reaching it from the bottom, you can try to reach it from the top, for me thats easier.

I didnt bleed my clutch this time, but I will do it later(when I remove my transmission next week)

[eddybear]

batman is back with yet another thread ressurection !!! this is pretty good nycgps... you've inspired me yet again with another DIY...

[nycgps]

PM me if u have question

P.S. : Im about to change 2 of my lines, cuz it was *sorta* damaged last time when they change my shocks to coilover ... *Sigh*, I will update this post with somemore pictures later, I took some back then but dunno where the hell I put them. probably all gone when I formatted my computer couple months ago

[heyarnold69]

i was thinkign about replacing my gas/ oil/ brake/ etc.. with ss lines...

[eddybear]

help!!!

i cannot figure this out ...... i've been trying with the 10mm wrench to follow the instructions to get the old brake line off ('07 vehicle with like 4000 on the clock)...

(In picture 1) Is this the bolt i should be trying to unscrew? i have pretty much almost rounded it out and used WD40 on it, and it's not budging.

(In picture 2) If i ever get that damn bolt out, am i to disconnect this junction and attach the middle piece here instead?

I'm stuck

[eddybear]

anyone???

car still on the jacks cuz i jus cant bring myself to re-assemble and call it a day.

[swoope]

Originally Posted by eddybear

anyone???

car still on the jacks cuz i jus cant bring myself to re-assemble and call it a day.

guessing you did not use a brake line wrench.

vise grips is you answer right now.. and get some brake line wrenches. they are not expensive..

beers

[eddybear]

there's such a thing -- i was following the DIY.....

i saw no reference to that, is it too late for hte brake line wrench tho?

[nycgps]

Originally Posted by eddybear

help!!!

i cannot figure this out ...... i've been trying with the 10mm wrench to follow the instructions to get the old brake line off ('07 vehicle with like 4000 on the clock)...

(In picture 1) Is this the bolt i should be trying to unscrew? i have pretty much almost rounded it out and used WD40 on it, and it's not budging.

(In picture 2) If i ever get that damn bolt out, am i to disconnect this junction and attach the middle piece here instead?

I'm stuck

Picture 1 : I am not 100% sure from your picture, but that seems like the bolt that I said it has 1 corner thats rounded from factory, of thats what im thinking, then yes it was a pain in the ass bolt. Anyway, Im going to bleed my brake system on tuesday (yearly thing), so if u can wait, then I'll keep an eye on it for you. you rounded it, u should just buy a new bolt.

Picture 2 : take that bolt out, u dont need to keep the u-joint, the brake kit should have everything u need in there.

[swoope]

Originally Posted by eddybear

there's such a thing -- i was following the DIY.....

i saw no reference to that, is it too late for hte brake line wrench tho?

yes,

vice grips is the answer now.. and you will have to replace the line. brake wrenches are at any auto parts store.

beers

[mysql]

i did my brake fluid change by myself.

one of those places like auto zone will lend you brake fluid extractor hardware. It's nothing more than a straw with a hand held pump. You pump it to create a vacuum, then you loosen the bleed valve on your brake. The vacuum will suck out the fluid. Then when the vacuum is low, clamp shut the bleed valve. Then repeat this process till all your old fluid is out. You have to refill the new fluid once in a while to prevent getting bubbles in the system.

This worked well for me.. and cost nothing besides the brake fluid.

[laythor]

I got my dealership to install the goodrich SS brake lines. They sent a coupon for a brake flush and I talked the tech into putting on the lines since they'd be down there anyway.

[TThell]

yea like Swoope said you will have to replace the line, and good luck with the vise grips cause thats going to be a pain to get loose now with it rounded like that

after doing this job to a couple of my cars I would not even try it without the brake wrench, the end is almost totally enclosed except a small space to allow the hard line past, this ensures the most contact space for the wrench

also a MytiVac I think their called, works great for bleeding brakes especially if you are alone

also a quick tip in case it wasn't allready noted, it's best to brake the nut loose for the line while it still is attached with the retainer clip instead of taking the retainer off then trying to break it loose, more stable.