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2001 brake line blow out

S

scha0786

New member
wifes car had a brake line blow out above the fuel filter in the rear.

I ended up buying all new OE GM fuel supply/return/vapor line and went with this place for the brake lines.

https://sstubes.com/vehicle-manufacturer-pontiac-passenger-car#/specFilters=43!#-!650!-#!25!#-!361

stuff came in the mail yesterday and is legit. Stainless is what I went with.

In the process of tearing out the old garbage, so far have everything disconnect in the rear by the fuel filter. the plastic retaining support clips are tricky but was able to save all of them so far. Also the fuel vapor quick connect fitting was a real treat to get apart.

But tonight I am going to disconnect the lines from the ABS module and start wiggling everything out of there. My hope is that I can weasle the old lines out and weasle the new lines in without too much hassle.

Worst case I was going to remove the sway bar and if needed possibly drop with subframe 2".

I am planning on not putting any unions in the system (except for the passenger rear, SStubes already has one) and making it a clean repair job so I don't have a headache when I go to bleed and fire up the fuel pump.

Wish me luck and I will take some pictures of the old lines, new lines and hopefully the trick to slip these new lines in without much trouble.
 


Oh FYI - the SStubes for the driver/passenger rear do not have the proportioning valves installed, have to manually cut them in which I have not done yet.

I can just double flair or do I need to buy a bubble flare tool for that?
 
scha0786 said:
Oh FYI - the SStubes for the driver/passenger rear do not have the proportioning valves installed, have to manually cut them in which I have not done yet.

I can just double flair or do I need to buy a bubble flare tool for that?
Click to expand...

It is my understanding that you will need a metric bubble flare for everything in the stock system, so stock proportioning valves will require a bubble flare as well. If you go with aftermarket proportioning valves, you'll need to use whatever flare is appropriate for them.
 
10-4, I am picking up the proportioning valves from Orielys auto today.

If I need to, can I remove the ABS and Master cylinder as one for added room? If I remove it, does that make bleeding it a PITA?
 
update...

Last night I got all the old stuff out. both rear brake lines, fuel supply, return and vapor.

Tips - need to pull the sway bar, remove all the line brackets, need to have the car jacked up a minimum of 24" off the ground, may be able to do it lower but you will fight it. I also removed the master cylinder and ABS module.

Once you do that I was able to remove all five lines at once.

My problem now is the line set from SStube (Fine lines) does not match the existing brake line set. There is no place to install the proportioning valves and the spot where the rear brake lines go into the ABS module are incorrect. I am working with SS tubes to figure out the problem and hopefully get this resolved sooner than later so I can get this back on the road.
 
update....

ended up sending the SStubes set back, just too much wrong for me to make work. I ended up ordering OE brake lines from Amazon and hand bending my rear axle sections out of ni-copper.

My parts arrive this week and should be a bolt and go scenario. As long as I was in there I replace all the rubber hose from the caliper to hard line connections.

Also, my fuel filter bracket was rusted into nothing. Apparently, GM no longer manufacturers this part and it is not available, junk yard only! So I fabbed up custom one that I made out of plate steel and a stainless EGT sensor hose clamp I had laying around.

This job is not hard just super time consuming bending custom lines, making bubble flares, and dealing with rusty junk underneath.

Highly recommend the nicopper stuff, don't even need a tubing bender, I just used my fingers and followed the old lines to get the shape and contour. Also, making bubble flares with the OTC 6502 master kit is awesome, they look identical to OE. Have to see if they leak or not lol.
 


Wrapped up this project today! Wow that was a pain in the but to get done. Ended up going with oe fuel supply/return/vapor and custom making my own fuel filter bracket because gm stopped making them.

For the brake lines I went with oe on the front left, left/right front to rear and making my own axle sections out of nicopper. I put in all new hoses and bought new proportioning valves.

I also had to fix the broken sway bar in the front and put in new bushings and end links. So far no leaks and pedal feels nice and firm, woo hoo!!!!!!
 
Here is a pic of the broken sway bar end I decided to weld up instead of buying a new one for $80.
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Here is the bar all painted up ready to go, I bought new moog sway bar bushings and brackets and topped it off with all moog poly end link bushings
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sorry about the poor pic quality but the thread really limited me on the overall file size I was posting, have to research how to post this better.
 
update.....all is good with the line replacement job, no leaks and pedal is firm! Also, fine lines did give me my money back but did not reimburse me my cost to ship the line set back to them, so the mistake cost me $32.00. Oh well I guess.

Man that was a doozy of a project, but I learned a ton about brake systems and all the different types of fittings etc.

Now onto getting the AC system up to snuff before the heat waves hit MN here.
 
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