Nigeyy
Legendary Member
- Location
- Massachusetts, USA
Warning: I think this post is more for people who work on their own cars and it might be a bit boring otherwise, you have been warned and it is a looong post! Let's start from the beginning -it's a stupendously classic domino effect:
My car started whining a couple of months ago. No problem, I diagnosed it as a noisy rear wheel bearing (no hydraulic press required, yay!), and promptly ordered the part. I then realized how rusty everything was, and after having to spray on "liquid wrench" oil to get anywhere with the rear drum brake that needed to be taken off to get to the bearing, realized I should replace the brake shoes as I was afraid they had been compromized (they had). So I also bought some replacement brake shoes -pretty reasonable price. But you can see I've already gone from one wheel bearing to the wheel bearing plus now replacing both rear brake shoes and buying brake fluid (won't do just one, will replace as a set). After much aggravation I managed to install everything. But then.... I happen to peel back (WHY DID I DO THIS?) the slave cylinder dust covers to reveal.... brake fluid. Ugh. On both wheels, double ugh.
OK, deep breaths. I'll just replace the two slave cylinders, no big deal, and they happen to be on sale and ridiculously cheap. BUT: now I'm at a rear wheel bearing, brake fluid, brake shoes and now plus 2 slave cylinders.
Yeah, so I then found I couldn't remove the brake slave cylinders -the nut interfaces had rusted away as had the nuts connecting the hose. There's no way I can get these off, and I spend an entire frustrating afternoon just trying to disconnect one brake hose to get to the slave cylinder. I finally uttered "Oh [insert word of your choice here] it!" and subsequently hacksawed the hose and banjo bolt off and chiseled off the cylinder bolts. But now I need new rear brake hoses. I order them with my car up on axle stands. Fortunately I can use another car for the week the car is out of action. I'm now up to one wheel bearing, two sets of brake shoes, brake fluid, two rear slave cylinders, two rear brake hoses and a partridge in a bloody pear tree.
But wait... there's more. I look at where the brake lines are connected to the hose, and then happen to glance back under the car to see a very corroded brake line. "Oh cor blimey!!!" I didn't exclaim. I then subsequently made a very heavy sigh and said "I can't drive another corrosive winter with them" and then followed up with "I curse the quality of GM OEM 'stainless steel' brake lines". Well OK, somewhat similar words anyway!
At this point, I make a fatal decision: I could just replace the bad parts of the hoses, or replace the entire brake lines. I do pause to consider and then think "in for a penny, in for a pound". Why not remove all the rusty lines and replace all of them with corrosion free nickel copper lines? It would only cost around 20 quid more, what's not to like? And I can set my mind at rest knowing my brake lines will be good for many many years and not be fearing rusty brake lines I can't see. Add to the fact my car is already up on axle stands as well. OK, all new brake lines it is. So: one wheel bearing, two sets of brake shoes, brake fluid, two rear slave cylinders, two rear brake hoses and 15 metres of brake line and multiple ISO bubble flare fittings.
Fast forward next weekend: I'm mildly confident I can get this done. I start to remove all the old brake lines. It's fiddly but doable, and I've done worse jobs. I get to the master brake cylinder and start to remove the 4 lines. First line good. Second line good (you can see where this is going). 3rd line good. 4th line.... unnnnnggggghhhhhh aaargggghh. The actual inside of the master brake cylinder threads had stripped. Let's have a good laugh and revisit my new count shall we? One wheel bearing, two sets of brake shoes, brake fluid, two rear slave cylinders, two rear brake hoses, 15 metres of brake line and multiple ISO bubble flare fittings, one master brake cylinder (sigh), and why not? Two new front brake hoses (because I now know they will certainly be rusted on). I have to now wait another week for the master cylinder and hoses to arrive. I'm sure my neighbours are delighted to see the car up on axle stands for another week.
Well, third weekend in, I did it. And the good news is the brakes are actually the best they have ever been (if you don't have a power bleeder, get one, and if you ever have to replace brake lines, I can't recommend nickel copper brake lines highly enough for their ease of bending and flaring). I seriously would consider this to be a weekend job were it not for the corrosion and the stripped master cylinder internal threads.
So 2 weeks and 3 weekends and loads more parts than I ever thought it's done. Was it worth it? Yes for peace of mind and the fact even with all the parts, it still cost me considerably less than taking it to a garage (about 400 quid but that also includes a flare kit tool, power bleeder and tools I had to buy). Additionally I did have the considerable luxury of being able to use another car during that time as well.
My car started whining a couple of months ago. No problem, I diagnosed it as a noisy rear wheel bearing (no hydraulic press required, yay!), and promptly ordered the part. I then realized how rusty everything was, and after having to spray on "liquid wrench" oil to get anywhere with the rear drum brake that needed to be taken off to get to the bearing, realized I should replace the brake shoes as I was afraid they had been compromized (they had). So I also bought some replacement brake shoes -pretty reasonable price. But you can see I've already gone from one wheel bearing to the wheel bearing plus now replacing both rear brake shoes and buying brake fluid (won't do just one, will replace as a set). After much aggravation I managed to install everything. But then.... I happen to peel back (WHY DID I DO THIS?) the slave cylinder dust covers to reveal.... brake fluid. Ugh. On both wheels, double ugh.
OK, deep breaths. I'll just replace the two slave cylinders, no big deal, and they happen to be on sale and ridiculously cheap. BUT: now I'm at a rear wheel bearing, brake fluid, brake shoes and now plus 2 slave cylinders.
Yeah, so I then found I couldn't remove the brake slave cylinders -the nut interfaces had rusted away as had the nuts connecting the hose. There's no way I can get these off, and I spend an entire frustrating afternoon just trying to disconnect one brake hose to get to the slave cylinder. I finally uttered "Oh [insert word of your choice here] it!" and subsequently hacksawed the hose and banjo bolt off and chiseled off the cylinder bolts. But now I need new rear brake hoses. I order them with my car up on axle stands. Fortunately I can use another car for the week the car is out of action. I'm now up to one wheel bearing, two sets of brake shoes, brake fluid, two rear slave cylinders, two rear brake hoses and a partridge in a bloody pear tree.
But wait... there's more. I look at where the brake lines are connected to the hose, and then happen to glance back under the car to see a very corroded brake line. "Oh cor blimey!!!" I didn't exclaim. I then subsequently made a very heavy sigh and said "I can't drive another corrosive winter with them" and then followed up with "I curse the quality of GM OEM 'stainless steel' brake lines". Well OK, somewhat similar words anyway!
At this point, I make a fatal decision: I could just replace the bad parts of the hoses, or replace the entire brake lines. I do pause to consider and then think "in for a penny, in for a pound". Why not remove all the rusty lines and replace all of them with corrosion free nickel copper lines? It would only cost around 20 quid more, what's not to like? And I can set my mind at rest knowing my brake lines will be good for many many years and not be fearing rusty brake lines I can't see. Add to the fact my car is already up on axle stands as well. OK, all new brake lines it is. So: one wheel bearing, two sets of brake shoes, brake fluid, two rear slave cylinders, two rear brake hoses and 15 metres of brake line and multiple ISO bubble flare fittings.
Fast forward next weekend: I'm mildly confident I can get this done. I start to remove all the old brake lines. It's fiddly but doable, and I've done worse jobs. I get to the master brake cylinder and start to remove the 4 lines. First line good. Second line good (you can see where this is going). 3rd line good. 4th line.... unnnnnggggghhhhhh aaargggghh. The actual inside of the master brake cylinder threads had stripped. Let's have a good laugh and revisit my new count shall we? One wheel bearing, two sets of brake shoes, brake fluid, two rear slave cylinders, two rear brake hoses, 15 metres of brake line and multiple ISO bubble flare fittings, one master brake cylinder (sigh), and why not? Two new front brake hoses (because I now know they will certainly be rusted on). I have to now wait another week for the master cylinder and hoses to arrive. I'm sure my neighbours are delighted to see the car up on axle stands for another week.
Well, third weekend in, I did it. And the good news is the brakes are actually the best they have ever been (if you don't have a power bleeder, get one, and if you ever have to replace brake lines, I can't recommend nickel copper brake lines highly enough for their ease of bending and flaring). I seriously would consider this to be a weekend job were it not for the corrosion and the stripped master cylinder internal threads.
So 2 weeks and 3 weekends and loads more parts than I ever thought it's done. Was it worth it? Yes for peace of mind and the fact even with all the parts, it still cost me considerably less than taking it to a garage (about 400 quid but that also includes a flare kit tool, power bleeder and tools I had to buy). Additionally I did have the considerable luxury of being able to use another car during that time as well.