P38A P38 Rear transverse brake line

Hi All,
just a quick heads up for something to check the next time you're looking at the brake lines on the rear of the P38.
I've just changed both calipers as one had decided to seize up. I also had an advisory on corrosion on the pipework from last year, so I thought I might as well change those fixed and flexi pipes as well. It was mainly surface bubbling on the small fixed pipes but I replaced them anyway. There was some more corrosion on the main pipes so I cut these around the air reservoir and replaced them. If you've done this you'll know the arch covers have to come out to get to everything, only when I removed the transverse pipe did I see how bad it was. Its main areas of corrosion were completely hidden by the chassis and arch covers on both sides, these area's are a trap for dirt. The pipe can be seen when looked at from below ( from the axle upwards to the air bag hanger sub frame) and from what I could see, it looked fine. But clearly wasn't. So next time you're in the vicinity it might be worth some investigation.
By way of a tip, all the flexi hoses had grown together over the 18 years the car had been on the road. The replacement of the small flexi hoses became easier once I'd drilled out the pop rivet on the bracket which holds them to the small lower fixed pipe. This allows you to remove it from the car and fix these two pipes together in the workshop.
The clips pretty much all fell apart so I have some replacements on the way, but the fixings are also pretty corroded so I'm still working on this solution. Plus of course bleeding the brakes...
Regards

thank you, im about to do my rear lines as they've given up behind the wheel arch and above the cross member over the rear axle..it never rains..it just pours brake fluid!!!!

Hi Mark,
here's another couple of tips / problems I found which may or may not apply depending on your facilities:
I took this over 2 days as the car was on the drive. I washed off the whole underside as best as I could as there was plently of dirt up above the crossmembers and chassis rails.
I'd say these pipes are fitted to the body early on in construction, as such they're really tight to get at. You might want to make note if they travel under or over the existing brake / air suspension pipes before you take them off, as these can hold them off the clips.
The 'feed' pipes from the front are tucked right up in the bodyshell, if you're replacing these, as I had to , cut them a fair way from the air reservoir so you have plenty to work with, otherwise getting a flange tool on is really difficult. You'll see what I mean when you find them. They run by the drivers side lower axle linkage with only the passanger side pipe having a back to back connector here. For me I thought the area directly between the air reservoir and the axle linkage was the most accessable for the new pipes to join, but it depends on the amount of corrosion you have on your pipes as to whether you need to remove this much pipe.
I did one side at a time and replaced every thing from the pipes back. You'll need a 2nd pair of hands to feed you the transverse pipe, that way you can jiggle it over the air pipes in the passanger wheel arch. I stuck duck tape over the open end to stop getting any grit in it. I actually fixed the passanger side first as originally I had cut it too short to make the union. This made feeding the rest down the drivers side wheelarch tricky, but I went slowly and got there in the end with out kinking the pipe.
If you add the unions to the long brake pipes before fitting to the car, I think you'll have a problem with getting them in position as theres little clearance.
The lower short pipes can be made up before hand no problem, just see the earlier post for the bracket for the short flexi, I couldn't see how that can be connected in situ. The flexi clips were really tight both to get off and then new ones on, I used a plumbers adjustable spanner (water pump spanner) to gently squeeze them on the pipe ends, again, you'll see what I mean.
I was supplied both long flexi hoses but I had to check them against the car as they had been 'handed' opposite to what I found.
As in my original post, the pipe clips will be tricky also as there are two directly above the chassis rail, but once the new ones arrive hopefully they'll be secure on the existing 'studs'. Island 4x4 were the cheapest for these.
Good luck with the job.
Joe

brilliant buddy, thank you, I'll report back once it's complete. I might just run them on the outside of the car......