Replacing tercel brakelines and gasline

[armyjunk]

Hello everyone, I have a '86 Tercel wagon and the brake lines, gas line and the other 2 lines to the rear of the car are shot. Since these lines have about a hundred bends in each one I am thinking of running them inside the car which will save me a lot of work, very neatly along the tunnel and covered by the carpet, small holes in the firewall and the rear panel. Anyone have any ideas on this? Old VWs had the lines inside...thanks for any feedback positive or negative....

[ARCHINSTL]

Is it a PITA to run them outside? Definitely!
Should you do it? Definitely!

Welcome to the Club!
Tom M.

[splatterdog]

Is the car still safe to drive, structurally? My swiss cheese parts wagon that was retired due to chassis flex/death wobble still had pretty solid lines. Good enough to save even.

Other than the dune buggy twin parking brake trick, I woudn't apply any beetle technology to your terc. They did some strange things with those cars....

But, they are a PITA unless you are fully stripping the car down. Maybe invest in an inexpensive flaring kit and do only the back half if possible.

What ever you do, DO NOT use compression fittings on the brake lines.

Good luck!

[armyjunk]

the little guy is almost mint, so I don't mind working on it. Some reason the idea of 5 parallel lines is spooking me. I have the old ones off now. None are worth saving...I should mention that I'm old and this is the hobby car....so no real hurry..

[ARCHINSTL]

I did all new brake lines on my '88 Dodge/Mitsu p'up last year. The bending part was surprisingly easy. The hard part was getting the curves in the right place - as you will discover.
I used individual pieces of various lengths, which I thought was easier than attempting one long piece (which would have been a nicer installation, granted). This also avoided using the flaring tool; I was afraid of screwing up the flaring process.
A word - take an old piece with you if you do individuals - there are different types of ends, as I discovered...
The tubing pieces are surprisingly cheap; the brass connectors for the individual pieces are surprisingly expensive.

Incidentally, are you a boomer or a pre-boomer (I'd hate to lose my believed status as the Senior resident OF...)?
Tom M.

[takza]

I did my brake lines and did a writeup of sorts:

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=219

It's a pretty involved job. My advice...plan ahead...bend them once with maybe a few minor tweaks. If you mess up...buy another section of line.

I just put mine back where they came from...but only did the brake lines...and left the very rusted large line (vapor line) going back to the tank and the other gas lines alone. I now use lithium spray grease on all these lines to keep them from rusting.

[armyjunk]

thanks everyone I guess next week I will start on the project

[Petros]

I am not sure I would run the fuel and vapor lines inside the car, that would add an extra hazard if there was a leak, or even a bad accident.

It might be easier to go to a pull-a-part or similar self service wrecking yard and just pull the brake and fuel lines you need. They would all be the right shape that way. The generic lines would work too but it would be more work, make sure the tubing you buy is the right kind for the application. Brake lines are very high pressure. You also might look into the Teflon lined, stainless steel braided fuel line they use on aircraft and race cars. It is stronger than the metal lines, you buy fittings for the ends that are installed with normal hand tools, and it is flexible so routing it is easy. These are likely more costly, but they will not rust through.

I find it odd that these lines are so much degraded, do you live in a part of the country where they use salt on the roads?

[armyjunk]

here is what I have, the forward end of the line is good, all the rust is in this one spot......BTW I'm in Louisville KY and 63

ARCHINSTL, did you use several pieces put together with couplings? again thanks everyone

[ARCHINSTL]

For the Dodge p'up, I used a number of pieces of varying lengths; I tried to get the combination of lengths to come closest to the OE length to minimize the "spirals" I had to form to take up the excess length. As I recall, the lines came in 4 lengths from 12" to 44" (not certain now about the exact lengths). The connectors were brass, and $6+ apiece, I believe.
I've been told (dunno if true) that one can take the OE brake/fuel tubing to a brake-only shop and have it fabricate one-piece lines. I did not investigate this on the p'up, as it would have been impossible to route it - I'm pretty sure the bed was put on after the truck was built - common on p'ups? If you got it all off in one piece on the Terc, I guess this could work? Worth a call to compare pricing v. the PITA tube-bending.
My brake lines looked like yours - even squirted fluid ! That '88 Dodge/Mitsu is a real rust bucket - big holes in the chassis, etc; I truthfully think the bed is keeping it intact... I think it was undercoated with a salt solution in the factory... Of course, MO does use salt on the roads, too...
Tom M.
P.S. Gotcha by 5 years... I am still the Senior OF!
......My Goldie is OE from the Nashville area - virtually no rust at all!

[keith]

If 63 is DOB then I am

[ARCHINSTL]

HAW !
I ws 23 in '63...
Tom M.

[keith]

I guess I'm not then, I was 14

[armyjunk]

thanks everyone, the info you all gave me will help a lot. This weekend I have 2 Corrolas to work on. Next week I will start the Tercel brake job. I will post an update when finished....

[armyjunk]

Hi everyone, I'm back on the Tercel project. I installed the new brake lines. I'm trying to bleed the brakes, but after a couple hours of bleeding and 2 big cans of fluid I'm still getting air outta of the system.
The brakes are working as they should on the passenger side front and the drivers side rear, no brakes at all on the drivers side front and passenger drivers side rear I just keep getting more air. Any ideas on this? Thanks a lot