110 brake pipes.

Hi peps, any suggestions on replacing a front near side brake pipe on 2007 110? Do I replace the entire length or cut it off past the corrosion and join a new piece? Not sure how best the access the pipe in the engine bay tho! Seems cutting it might be fun! Possibly a job for a dremmel with mini cutting disc. Any thoughts welcome.

retneprac said:

Hi peps, any suggestions on replacing a front near side brake pipe on 2007 110? Do I replace the entire length or cut it off past the corrosion and join a new piece? Not sure how best the access the pipe in the engine bay tho! Seems cutting it might be fun! Possibly a job for a dremmel with mini cutting disc. Any thoughts welcome.

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You need to replace the whole pipe.

retneprac said:

Hi peps, any suggestions on replacing a front near side brake pipe on 2007 110? Do I replace the entire length or cut it off past the corrosion and join a new piece? Not sure how best the access the pipe in the engine bay tho! Seems cutting it might be fun! Possibly a job for a dremmel with mini cutting disc. Any thoughts welcome.

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Get a proper pipe cutter. Cutting brake pipes with a cutting disc leaves rags, doesn’t give a straight cut and introduces cuttings into the fluid. I have successfully cut metal brake pipes and joined in copper or Kunifer. You can get a ratchet version of the cutter below as well.

meego said:

Get a proper pipe cutter. Cutting brake pipes with a cutting disc leaves rags, doesn’t give a straight cut and introduces cuttings into the fluid. I have successfully cut metal brake pipes and joined in copper or Kunifer. You can get a ratchet version of the cutter below as well.
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That might work. Never seen one that small before, although I have them for plumbing pipes.

Turboman said:

That might work. Never seen one that small before, although I have them for plumbing pipes.

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Nice clean square cut with them too. I’m kind of with you though that it’s probably better to renew the full pipe, but the metal pipes on my disco are In perfect condition except for the last exposed bit where it connects. I cut the pipe still on the car and used a connector to fit Kunifer in. It’s been fine !!

meego said:

Nice clean square cut with them too. I’m kind of with you though that it’s probably better to renew the full pipe, but the metal pipes on my disco are In perfect condition except for the last exposed bit where it connects. I cut the pipe still on the car and used a connector to fit Kunifer in. It’s been fine !!

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I always replace them. The pipes for the kind of stuff I have are usually only a few quid.

But if the pipe is very difficult to access, that method might be worthwhile.

meego said:

Get a proper pipe cutter. Cutting brake pipes with a cutting disc leaves rags, doesn’t give a straight cut and introduces cuttings into the fluid. I have successfully cut metal brake pipes and joined in copper or Kunifer. You can get a ratchet version of the cutter below as well.
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Hiya

plus 1 to those cutters as also used them when I replaced some of my brake pipes, also found this brake flaring tool was brilliant , best one I’ve used so far, have them in 4.75 and 3/16

also had the issue where the pipes twisted as I tried to undo nuts where they joined onto the flexible brake hoses , so ended up cutting most of them off and then replaced all my brake hoses at the same time

used one of these brake bleeders for the first time and was also very good

as a side note used those small cutters when I worked on oil boilers or gas fires as indeed as u rightly say with regards to not using hacksaws etc

gstuart said:

Hiya

plus 1 to those cutters as also used them when I replaced some of my brake pipes, also found this brake flaring tool was brilliant , best one I’ve used so far, have them in 4.75 and 3/16

also had the issue where the pipes twisted as I tried to undo nuts where they joined onto the flexible brake hoses , so ended up cutting most of them off and then replaced all my brake hoses at the same time

used one of these brake bleeders for the first time and was also very good

as a side note used those small cutters when I worked on oil boilers or gas fires as indeed as u rightly say with regards to not using hacksaws etc

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All that stuff is probably worth more than my motor!

Another simple and economical solution if you just want to get an MOT is to take some wire wool or fine emery paper, and a bit of oil, and just scrub the corrosion off the outside of the pipe.

Turboman said:

All that stuff is probably worth more than my motor!

Another simple and economical solution if you just want to get an MOT is to take some wire wool or fine emery paper, and a bit of oil, and just scrub the corrosion off the outside of the pipe.

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lol

must confess heard that before ref brake pipes , admittedly done that a few times on my old series , alas though this time there were sections of copper that had signs of petina pinhole marks , along with twisting in the pipes where someone had tried in the past to undo the nuts , so had to cut the sections out , all good fun seeing there’s 3 x pipes at the back each side , fronts were just one pipe

they were in a right mess and found all this out when I was changing my rear upper wishbones , hope to never have to do that job again as went through 12 x recip blades on each side due to the bolts being hardened steel

the joys of landy ownership, lol

gstuart said:

lol

must confess heard that before ref brake pipes , admittedly done that a few times on my old series , alas though this time there were sections of copper that had signs of petina pinhole marks , along with twisting in the pipes where someone had tried in the past to undo the nuts , so had to cut the sections out , all good fun seeing there’s 3 x pipes at the back each side , fronts were just one pipe

they were in a right mess and found all this out when I was changing my rear upper wishbones , hope to never have to do that job again as went through 12 x recip blades on each side due to the bolts being hardened steel

the joys of landy ownership, lol

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Repeated application of the wire wool etc. probably isn't a good idea, as it will wear the pipes thinner over time.

It also may not work well on the plastic coated pipes found on Saabs, and probably others as well. Although I don't think I have ever seen corrosion appear on those pipes.

Turboman said:

Repeated application of the wire wool etc. probably isn't a good idea, as it will wear the pipes thinner over time.

It also may not work well on the plastic coated pipes found on Saabs, and probably others as well. Although I don't think I have ever seen corrosion appear on those pipes.

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agreed , the pipe in the pic was like that where it had been cleaned up in the past , cut all that out as wasn’t happy with it as indeed not worth the risk , , noticed over the years working on copper it goes like a dull colour , other pic is where I put a cap on the end to stop any drips as I was cutting out the old wishbone

funny enough one of the short brake pipes had that rubber coating on, admittedly the old one looked fine but seeing I was replacing all the brake hoses I replaced all x 8

as always theres then the hassle of trying bleed the brakes , but those vacuum pumps were a dream to use on ur own , seen a few where diagnostics is required after allowing air has entered the ABS module

this year will be replacing all my brake callipers , pads and discs

Probably going to bite the bullet and do a full replacement as I have all bits, after I’ve sanded the bit a bit.
Bigger issue possibly, failed on emissions too.
Suggestion was to use Forte smoke stop. Any good?

retneprac said:

Probably going to bite the bullet and do a full replacement as I have all bits, after I’ve sanded the bit a bit.
Bigger issue possibly, failed on emissions too.
Suggestion was to use Forte smoke stop. Any good?

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Get the cutter I posted earlier. You get cheaper versions of the one I posted that will do the same job. You won’t regret it, as it’s a great wee tool. The flaring tool @gstuart posted is brilliant as well. You can use that to make flares on or off the vehicle. It flared my metal pipes no problem as well.

retneprac said:

Probably going to bite the bullet and do a full replacement as I have all bits, after I’ve sanded the bit a bit.
Bigger issue possibly, failed on emissions too.
Suggestion was to use Forte smoke stop. Any good?

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Might be worth a try. DPF cleaner additive got my diesel Mondeo through emissions test.

I don't really know exactly what recirc, DPFs, cats, etc. you have on that.

retneprac said:

Hi peps, any suggestions on replacing a front near side brake pipe on 2007 110? Do I replace the entire length or cut it off past the corrosion and join a new piece? Not sure how best the access the pipe in the engine bay tho! Seems cutting it might be fun! Possibly a job for a dremmel with mini cutting disc. Any thoughts welcome.

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Just replace the complete length of pipe and be done with it. No need to faff about adding sections. It is a great skill making home brake lines, takes a bit of practice but once learned never forgotten. If going the homemade route make the brake lines out of Cupro Nickel/Kunifer [not steel or copper] pipe

retneprac said:

Probably going to bite the bullet and do a full replacement as I have all bits, after I’ve sanded the bit a bit.
Bigger issue possibly, failed on emissions too.
Suggestion was to use Forte smoke stop. Any good?

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If failed on emissions clean the system from fuel tank to exhaust out by adding some good diesel cleaner and taking the 110 for an Italian service for a good 30-40mins. This should clean out the built up hydrocarbons that are normally the cause of emission failures/running rich.

Wynns and Redex both work and readily available from ECP, Halfrauds, Screwfix et al

v8250 said:

If failed on emissions clean the system from fuel tank to exhaust out by adding some good diesel cleaner and taking the 110 for an Italian service for a good 30-40mins. This should clean out the built up hydrocarbons that are normally the cause of emission failures/running rich.

Wynns and Redex both work and readily available from ECP, Halfrauds, Screwfix et al

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Bit more welly day to day, and getting the engine and exhaust fully hot by taking a long and high speed route to the test station have worked for me with emissions tests.

Can anyone throw any light on the correct copper pipe size? The pipe I have 3/16 OD, 20g
Should it be 22g?

indeed should be 4.75 / 3/16 , as @v8250 linked to for the kunifer


as a side note surprised u have a dpf as assumed they just had a cat fitted , wasn’t it from Eu 5/ vin SALL 8 onwards plse , but others will be able to confirm

Turboman said:

Bit more welly day to day, and getting the engine and exhaust fully hot by taking a long and high speed route to the test station have worked for me with emissions tests.

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Definitely this. It's amazing how cool our diesel engines run...and carbon up with short journeys, especially in winter. My run out to the Alpes the other year in the summer, two+ weeks of 28-36degs, climbing mountains and not once did the temp gauge go beyond normal middle position and heard the rad fan come on only once.

A quick run down to Goodwood last month and the fan came on only in the queue to the parking. This after the great road climb up and over Harting onto the South Downs.