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Replacing solid brake lines with flexible hoses


Drumster

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I did this over the winter, I used the Caterham supplied ones, I found that the hoses were a bit tight on length for easy routing, they were routed behind the watts-link bracket, protected with some rubber hose and secured with a tie-wrap.  Have a look at -

https://www.lotus7.club/forum/techtalk/r400d-routing-braided-rear-brake-hoses-around-watts-links

Post #11

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I was about to describe what I did only to discover that michaelf  has already posted a link to my earlier thread!  That saved me some searching, so thanks.

Chris, if your car doesn't have Watts links, I guess the routing problem doesn't really arise as your radius arm is lower.

JV 

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I got parts from Demontweeks ages ago and made them up myself - fit perfectly.

I guess its another case of caterham ignoring customer feedback and ploughing on with how theyve always done it ( the k dry sump kit always had shortages of essential bits despite feedback!)

My suggestion to Tazio was to get a new long hose made up using fittings from the short hose. Then shorten the original long hose to make a new short hose IYSWIM.

Ian

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Look at the order things are done in the assembly guide - some bits rotate and other bits don't.

My old DeDion tube had the pipes just tie-wrapped in place. The current DeDion is drilled to pop rivet the pipes/hoses in place.

 

Simon

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Changing to flexis, even just at the allows the sliding calliper to do just that. It's restricted by the solid pipes going to it. 

When I put a 7 into IVA a couple of years back it was put as a note that it has solid pipes. Apparently it is (or was) an ongoing discussion between vosa and cc as vosa don't agree with it. 

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Job done this week end. Having inspected the old solid lines they still look in perfect condition not bad considering they're are nearly 26 years old. As has been mentioned before the inner pads wear much more than the outers as with fixed lines the caliper appears not to slide. My outers looked almost unworn after 21k miles/8 years.

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When I put a 7 into IVA a couple of years back it was put as a note that it has solid pipes. Apparently it is (or was) an ongoing discussion between vosa and cc as vosa don't agree with it. 

It hurts to say this, but I suspect the problem is that CC tend not to appreciate external criticism of their engineering. 

It rather reminds me of the time, 14 or 15 years ago, I drew CC's attention (together with compelling evidence, I might add) to a design flaw in the way clutch release bearing (CRB) pre-load was implemented on cable-clutch cars, and pointing out that the shortcoming could well lead to premature CRB failure (or worse).

Rather than responding “hey, that’s an interesting hypothesis, we’ll look into it and let you know”, they replied to the effect that they’ve been doing it that way for years without significant problems.  So, it was revealing when, soon afterwards, they decided to change to a different CRB rather than fix the basic engineering.

PS: I'm 100% with VOSA on the brake-pipe issue.

JV

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Alan, Now you ask *rolleyes* *biggrin* ....

No photos but I'm hoping to change the brake fluid (what's left) and bleed the brakes during the week so I'll post some piccies then. Currently new hoses follow the same path as the rigid lines i.e. under the radius arm (I don't have Watts Links)

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I made my own hoses but put some heat shrink onto any parts that come into contact with any painted surfaces.

I would also use a fitting on the end of the solid line to retain the brake fluid in your system when you disconnect it from the tee piece.

Also when bleeding the system I bleed the air out by loosening the fitting on the caliper to remove the air from the brake line to avoid getting air trapped in the caliper.

 

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  • 1 year later...

Resurrecting this old thread, does anyone know if the possibly short hoses, if one has the watts linkage, issue has been addressed? Are the hoses supplied by Redline still borderline? Does Redline supply a full kit of parts to do the conversion and does anyone know the approx cost?

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