Fun with brakes!

[King_V]

Ok, so, I still haven't solved the weird clunking. But I was going to change the caliper anyway, so ever onward.

It has been, shall we say, a less-than-pleasant day.

Hrm, caliper seems difficult to remove... that's no good. REALLY awkward.

Finally comes off, and one of the three retaining tangs on the inner brake pad breaks off in the process. Sigh . . brake pads too, then.

Hrm, what's this? The outer pad and outside of the rotor are fine, but the inside is weird! The first and last 3/16 inch of the rotor are raised, as if they were harder than the rest of the rotor. The inner brake pad has a weird wear pattern to match that. That explains why it was hard to remove, but why that oddball wear pattern?!

Oh? What have we here? The outer ring of the metal piston where it presses the brake pad backing has a chunk broken off?! WTF?!

Well, while I'm on these things, the end of the brake hose near the caliper is cracking, so I should change that, too.

Let's see - new brake pads, new rotor, rebuilt caliper, new brake hose. Ok, I should be good to go.

Ugh, that metal plate where the rubber brake hose gets joined to the hard metal line is REALLY rusty - alas the new brake hose doesn't come with a new one of those.

Thankfully, the nut for the hard line doesn't really put up much of a fight. It's loosening nicely.

SNAP!!!!

Hrm, ok, hard line broken. Me very unhappy.

Thankfully the hard line is the shortest one, seems to be less than a foot long.

Uh, except I can't for the life of me maneuver my line wrench to where the hard line meets the . . uh . .I think that's called the proportioning valve? Or is it just a junction block of sorts?

Ugh, this sucks.

So, now have the rubber hose off, and no idea how to remove it from the metal bracket. That stuff's hopelessly rusted.

If the bracket and retaining clip are available at the parts stores, what are they called? Anyone have a part number? Or is it a dealer-only type of item? (please say no to that, please say no to that, please say no to that...)

I just really hope the odd caliper/rotor/brake-pad wear/damage issue is what was causing the clunking. That's be the only bright side to all this...

[1987cp]

Yep, the placement of that prop-valve-slash-distribution-block is a royal pain. Be prepared for most hardlines you touch to break off. Sometimes a cutoff wheel is your friend.

The rubber line to the front wheel should terminate in a metal end that clips into what I believe to be the metal bracket you speak of. Hardline screws into the hose end after clipping it in place, and will probably break when removed. Will probably end up cutting that hardlines at both ends, then removing the bracket and fidding with that on the bench (or more likely, just unclipping the hose and replacing the whole thing), and finally removing the fused line and nut from the prop valve with Vise-Grips and plenty of PB Blaster.

Fun stuff.

[gadget73]

The prop valve is an ignorant PITA to access. If I ever meet the person that decided to place it right exactly where it is, I'm going to smack them and make them replace a set of brake lines on one of these cars. If it had been a little higher off the frame to allow access to the connections it would be so much easier. Also, beware that the threads on that prop valve are usually something weird, so you may need to save the threaded bit and use that on your new line instead of using a pre-flared line. Try not to destroy that piece, you may come to regret it.

[1987cp]

Oh, I'd forgotten about the weird threads on the tube nuts. Whoever thought that was a good idea?

I had a prop valve that failed completely, wouldn't allow braking to the front at all. Couldn't get a replacement either, so after much fussing (and a temporary resurrection that turned out to be very temporary) it was eventually replaced with a T fitting for the front and a Wilwood adjustable regulator for the rear.

[King_V]

The rubber line to the front wheel should terminate in a metal end that clips into what I believe to be the metal bracket you speak of. Hardline screws into the hose end after clipping it in place, and will probably break when removed. Will probably end up cutting that hardlines at both ends, then removing the bracket and fidding with that on the bench (or more likely, just unclipping the hose and replacing the whole thing), and finally removing the fused line and nut from the prop valve with Vise-Grips and plenty of PB Blaster.

Fun stuff.

Oh yeah.

Strange thing is that I've changed brake hoses on cars before, always knew that there was a risk of that hard line breaking, and it's NEVER happened to me. Until now. Bleah!

Between having some sinus infection and having screwed up my neck, I won't be doing this job - I'll be getting a shop to do the hard-line removal and possibly the replacement of the rubber line due to the bracket issue (I have the new rubber hose). If this weren't my daily driver, I'd probably take the time to try and solve the problem myself.

As to the bracket/clip where the rubber hose terminates, I've fiddled with it, and had it practically drowning in Liquid Wrench, but have been unable to budge that retaining clip to remove the rubber line's end from the bracket. Is that bracket and clip available new from parts stores? I couldn't seem to find a name that matched up to it on Autozone's website.