Need Brake Line Help in Buck County, Pa

[Marni94]

hi All,

Just purchased my spider about a month ago. Last week, brake line on drivers side went, while I was going down hill in front of my home. Luckily,i was able to stop by downshifting and using ebrake...turned it around and went up hill back to my home.

Since its a 1980, and hoses looked original, I went through Vicks and bought a pair to change them both out. Here's the crappy part: they didn't arrive til Thursday. And I was scheduled for a masectomy Friday morning (yesterday). My 2 neighbors, whom are both motorheads, and one of which has an engineer dad who put in 30 years with Sikorsky helicopters and a collection of alfas, lancias, jags...you get the idea. So, I thought it was really nice of them. After all, I bought this spider to have a little fun in what may be a shit summer.

The haunted one went on no problem. However, after a few hours they came in to consult my groggy self, asking if the should try to heating it up to get the old one off, or cut it off. They also said it looks like there may be a weld in there.

I thanked them, but said i'd get on the forums and see if I can find a local fiat mechanic who can help me out.

So, I live in central bucks county, pa, and I work in philly, and have friends scattered all over nj.

Who can help me out and let me know of your mechanic that is within about 90 miles or so from me? I'll be in bed all this week, would love to get it in and fixed (and checked up for anything g else i may have to address)

I'd love to have it back so I can use and enjoy it for thhe summer.

Thanks all!

-Marni

[Marni94]

Sorry all, lots of typos in my post, using tablet and and on painkillers. Clarification: the neighbors volunteered to switch them out for me since I can't, and so I can have it back next week when I'm up and around. The leaking drivers side went on no problem. The still functioning passenger side one was difficult to get off, was told they can try to heat it to get it off or cut it, but they were hesitant because of a good amount of corrosion and what looks like a possible weld.

Therefore, I told the weekend warriors Thanks so much for trying...but I'll just get it to a fiat mechanic so no damage is unintentionally done.

So, need a fiat mechanic near by me! Anyone?

Thanks again, and sorry for the typos, I'm beat....but want to enjoy driving her this summer, not working on her...that is, anymore then I will already have to

[TX82FIAT]

Sorry, I have not lived in the Philly area for many years. I also extend wishes of good health to you. I'm not sure you need a Fiat mechanic. The brake booster, master cylinder, brake lines, calipers and discs are pretty common design for a foriegn car. The issue is finding a foriegn car mechanic that wants to touch your brakes. There are some very accomplished FIAT folks in your backyard.

[Marmeister]

Hi Marni, hope you're feeling better soon.
Can't help with info about mechanics, but did just replace master cylinder yesterday (and rear brake rebuild, etc...). In any case, maybe what i went through, might help you....
I had a heck of a time removing the brakelines from the master cylinder. Alternated many cycles of penetrating fluid, then flare wrench attempts to loosen the nuts around the brake lines.....none of them would budge. Tried careful tapping of the wrench with sharp blows of a hammer...nothing. it got to the point where the nuts were beginning to round off (in the loosening direction), even though using a flare wrench, which provided best support of the nut. I tried heating the nuts, although admittedly, I don't know if I heated it enough, but that didn't work either.

Options at this point were to use vise grips (not my favourite option) or cut the brake line and add a section with a coupler an appropriate flare at the end to connect to the new master cylinder - tricky because not much brake line was visible and what was visible, was curved at the point it would have to be cut - apparently NOT recommended.

Ended up using vise grips very tightly set so that it did not contribute to rounding up the nuts. This worked on all 4 brake lines. Turns out the thread on each brake line (going into master cylinder) was fairly long and only one or two top threads were rusted and that was enough to cause all this misery. However, brake line nuts re-installed by tightening with flare wrench, because as mentioned earlier, slippage was happening on loosening, but was still grabbing on tightening.
Hope this helps a bit.
Good luck,
Adham

[79spider2000HMSL]

Hello,

Marni94, I wish you good health and thank you for posting this question. Unfortunately I cannot help you out in terms of the mechanic.

What i was wondering is if Mameister could give me any advice with removing the brake lines at the calliper. I have tried many things and have had no success. I am trying to replace all four callipers and I am stuck on one of the rears.

Thank you!

[narfire]

Well I'm not in Pennsylvania, but a couple of suggestions that have worked for me in the past. I have cut the defective line close to the nut and then used a socket. I don't think there would be a weld as the calipers are aluminum and nut steel.
Use a flared wrench for the small nut on the line (10mm)
A tip I picked up here was to actually try and tighten them just a tad before switching to undoing. You have to break the corrosion that sounds like is mucking things up. A tap flush with the hammer sometimes helps as well. After the lines are swapped out , you'll be wanting to bleed the brakes as well. The bleeder screws are notorious for being coroded if they have not been mucked with for awhile. Same thing..tap, tighten,spray with some sort of penitrating fluid (not beer) and try and loosen.
Good luck and fast healing eh..
Chris

[minimike]

Marni,
Speedy recovery to your bod and the car. i recently replaced my rear brake hoses. One was easy, the other was not. I used a torch on the fitting at the brake line mount. This is the inboard part of the hose. You need to take this off so you can unscrew it from the caliper. Warning. When you heat up the fitting, the hose will pop off the fitting and hot brake fluid will smoke out of the open ends, along with the bulk of what's in the line up to the master cyl. Wear glasses and a face shield and keep an arms length from the fitting. It pops like a gunshot. Once the line is off the inboard side, spray it with PB Blaster. This stuff it better than the best penetrating fluid I've ever used. Don' t use WD-40(not for loosening bolts anyways!) or any other products.

let the PB Blaster soak in for 15 minutes and then with two wrenches, you hold the steel line, and unscrew the inboard brake fitting. Don't forget to spray the back side of the caliper where the out board side of the brake line fastens. That will take a bit of elbow strength, but should be easy enough to remove.

As previously stated, when trying to undo a nut or bolt, try cinching it a bit tighter first and then undo it. also flare nut wrenches will give you a better grip than an open end. If you've broken the hose with heat, you can use a box wrench (closed end) A small piece of 1" diameter ID pipe by 8" long slipped over the wrench will increase your leverage. You might need to flatten one end of the pipe when using it with larger wrenches.

Buy at least a quart of brake fluid and plan on bleeding the whole system through. Non-silicone brake fluid is hydroscopic and absorbs water. This is why it looks dirty and cruddy. Clean fluid makes the system work better.

If you get stuck with this job, you can em me direct (no computer at work!) or call me at work days. I'm on LI, in NY
Mike 631 2 eight eight, 5 Oh 22
or minibitz@optonline.net

[Marni94]

Hi all,

Sorry for not posting results sooner. With some help from the guys at auto ricambi and all of you, I replaced my hard line on my passenger side! It was not fun, and I almost gave up a few times!

Since I had purchased two rubber brake lines, as I was told to always replace in twos, I had the extra one. I replaced the drivers side one that had been the original leak culprit...the added pressure made for a blow out somewhere along the passenger side hard line....but, the hard line was totally rounded. After much effort and frustration, the ha-ha moment came. I still have the rubber brake line to replace on that side once I managed to get the hard line off and replace it.

So, I made not of exactly where to run it, and cut it into sections and removed it, allowing me to me move the rounded end too! Running hard line after already wasting that kind of time, was a little off putting, but if I wanted my spider for the nice weather, I was going though with it! New hardline and rubber line on passenger side and brakes like a champ!

Driving her regularly now, but next on list is most definitely suspension. Yet to decide on inexpensive or performance route...any opinions?

Thanks to all my fellow fiatphobes for your much appreciated help and experience.

Marni