Stainless Braided Front Brake Hoses

[Rev_D21]

Empire Radiator in Rochester NY made these for me using the originals as templates. Cost me $69 after tax. Brake Quip ends and a burst pressure of 3000psi, DOT approved (they can even make colored versions). They came out great. Will have the rear hose made up later on. Here's some pics for you guys.

[seang]

I want to know if the pedal feel changes.

[Rev_D21]

You and me both. I hate the way the pedal felt last year. Too squishy.

[longtooth]

Those are NICE. I dont know about hoses helping make the pedal less squishy but they sure wont bulge out like the factory ones.

[Dano]

Just a suggestion, cover those lines in heatshrink or something otherwise dirt gets under the stainless braiding and rubs against the lining. I have unprotected stainless lines and have seen some wear, and am switching over to covered lines this year.

[Rev_D21]

Dano, they have clear covers on them. Hard to photograph.

[lino]

Those look great. Glad you have the clear covers. Some Goodridge lines come with covers, but not all of them.

[Dano]

Dano, they have clear covers on them. Hard to photograph.

AWESOME!

[RT22]

Put them on front and back of my 300ZXTT and they made the pedal stiff as a rock, you should really feel a big difference. They do not expand at all and the brakes will hit fast and stiff.

[Rev_D21]

Getting ever closer to installing the hoses. Today was all about painting the calipers.

[8v fury]

Would they be willing to make some more?

[Rev_D21]

I am sure they would. They sent their salesman over to our dealership to try and sell me on the company as a sublet for things our shop can't handle, things like re-coring radiators.

Some pics from today.



Also:

Nissan used Timken bearings on this truck which I feel good about, a quality name in the business.

Front Inner Bearing Cone= Timken 45848Front Outer Bearing Cone= Timken M12649

[8v fury]

I would be willing to buy a complete set for my truck.

[Rev_D21]

I didn't have much luck bleeding the brakes today. I bled every corner of the truck along with the load sensing valve and the ABS actuator valve. I even bled the MC at the lines that plug into it, no luck. The pedal shoots straight for the floor every time. I have no air in that system, I am sure of that. I am thinking it may be the master cylinder and here's why. I checked the calipers for clamping and they clamp both rotors fine, you just have top press the pedal near the floor to do it. I have clean fluid with no air bubbles from the master cylinder but still I have tons of pedal travel still. Start the truck and the pedal drops right to the floor. I am sad I haven't been able to figure it out. No one in town has a MC otherwise I would have had that on already. What do you guys think? Could I have damaged the MC when we first pushed it down to pump the system pressure up? It wasn't dry but the system had been empty for a couple of days. Thoughts?

I did get all the front brake work finished this morning which is nice, I just don't get to enjoy any of my work for a few days.

[BronkStang]

did you bench bleed the master?

[Rev_D21]

No and that was going to be my next move actually.

[Dano]

Make sure there's no leakage down either side of the firewall (engine bay and inside car) to ensure that no corrosion on the piston tore the diaphragm, i've seen that a few times on older master cylinders. Also, sometimes ABS modules get air stuck in them that's really hard to get out due to the check valves. If all of that is A-ok, then it could also be the brake booster diaphragm....

[longtooth]

I have had that problem before. What happened was when I flushed the brake system it flushed out the soot in the master cyclinder. That little soot help the seals do there job when they flexed out to the borewalls.

If this is a new m/c then bench bleed it. If its the old one I would replace it or rebuild it.

[Rev_D21]

I am going to attempt a bench bleed while still on the truck. I don't see why it wouldn't work. I just need to find some nipple fittings that will fit the MC and some clear hose. Someone pumps while I hold the hoses and watch. I am dead certain this is the problem. Before I bench bleed this truck I am going to have the brake hose to the rear axle replaced in stainless braid as well. I was hoping to have the truck on the road this week but I guess we will continue to make things better.

[Rev_D21]

I must say I am an idiot. We bled and bled and bled. I had no air coming out of any nipple but I still had no pressure. I was 1 inch away from ordering a new MC when my wife did a little research for me. She put the thought in my head that something had to be installed wrong which got me thinking. I looked at before and after pics and that's when I noticed that the bleeder screws were facing downward on the front calipers. Dumb me had installed the calipers on wrong sides...it is possible to do this. The only difference between the two calipers is the location of the bleed nipple.

This morning I went out and swapped them left to right. The brakes are so strong now that I almost went through the windshield my first time stepping on them. I took the truck for a 15 mile break-in drive and those brakes stop hard when asked. I think the braided lines did make a difference for sure. It's hard to tell because we did so much work on top of just replacing the brake lines. We have new pads, rotors and we bled out every drop of the crappy old brake fluid opting to replace that with Synthetic Dot 4. All that combined I am sure had worlds to do with how strong the brakes turned out.

I still have to clean and adjust the rear brakes and that will be going on throughout this week.

Here's some pics of her out of the garage for the first time this year. She needs a bath.

[BronkStang]

lookin good! yeah i gotta do something with the stock crappy brakes... what kinda tonneau you got on that? i just replaced my old checkmate top with the truxport, LOVE IT

[Rev_D21]

Thanks for the compliment. I still have a laundry list of things I need to get done. I still haven't installed the rear sway bar yet but that's next. The tonneau is made by Extang. It's a Tuff Tonno II which I purchased last year and it's a nice cover. Easy to remove and install. Extang has a good warranty as well.

It sucks that even though I had it out today it still has a few loose ends to tie up before she's road worthy, but that's owning a project for you. I'm not b****ing, I enjoy turning wrenches but I am anxious to get behind the wheel.

[Desert Rat]

I run braided lines all the way around on both my trucks as well....it was a good upgrade when doing the solid axle swaps.

Did you put one on the rear axle too?

[RT22]

Rotors and pads will help stopping distance for sure but the solid lines make the pedal hard and not soft and squishy. with all hard lines and braided ones there is almost zero line expansion so the pedal pushes the pads only not the lines. I loved the SS lines on my Z.

[Rev_D21]

I have not done the rear yet but I do have a plan for that. I am going to borrow one for Empire to copy rather than leaving the truck without a rear hose for a couple days. This way bleeding will be minimal at best.