Day 2.
Break out the metric bubble flare kit.
It makes these. The crappiness is just from the coating which is peeling.
This was my first time bubble flaring. It has a few differences from the double flare approach which I am more than used to. The mandrel threads into the threaded rod. This is nice because it is impossible to wobble around while clamping down. The other advantage is that you don't need to double flare. It's just one pass, not two. Now the Malibu FSM describes a 2nd pass but the kit I have is just single pass. But based on this experience, I am happy with bubble flares.
Side note on metric brake lines. Apparently 3/16" is the standard smallest size, even though that is 4.7625 mm. But "metric" 3/16" line comes with the right bubble flares and metric fittings (M10 is standard, see my M11 tale of woe in the previous post). The M10 and M11 fittings are both advertised to work with 3/16" line. I believe bigger than 3/16" becomes truly metric.
In the future, the following may be of help to someone:
- Bubble flare = metric fittings. Identifying a bubble flare is easy as it's just a dome, rather than the edge that the double flare has.
- They could be M10 or M11. M10 appears to be the standard but M11 is freely available. They all take a 12 mm wrench.
- If it looks like a 3/16" line, it IS 3/16" line.
Due to the design, I think bubble flare fittings may require a bit more torque, as you don't have that nice edge to bite into the fitting and seal. It's a much larger surface area interface. Or that's my current theory.
Making progress.
Both rears are installed. Left side channels are the M10 and right side are the M11. I know this.....now. That right rear fitting held torque just fine, by the way. Turns out an M10 in an M11 hole doesn't really strip it. Not a whole lot of torque was required so I should have known something was up. Then again, aluminum is soft and I've always feared aluminum threaded anything.
This is the first line retainer. It is roughly above the front subframe. I took my time and managed to get the new lines routed. The large lines, by the way, are fuel feed, fuel return and evap.
Later I straightened them out as best I could. On the right you can see the steering rack and bottom of the intermediate steering shaft boot.
When I realized I would have to use the M11 fitting on the ABS end of the right rear line, I thought I'd have to cut the line and make a splice somewhere near the ABS pump. Then I felt embarrassed. All I had to do was cut off one end (the very tip) of the 51" line I bought and replace one fitting with the M11. Since I cut the rear lines long under the car I still had plenty to work with. Here I have the left line mocked up with the union and the right line floating. I then marked the line and cut appropriately.
Now I have both lines done.
This is the next retainer in line and I didn't mention before that I had to drill out the rivet holding it in place. It's strange because the first one just floats and the others downstream are bolted. I screwed around with my rivet gun and finally realized I needed a long 5/16" rivet, which I did not have. I found a bolt that worked. Unfortunately due to the angles of the new lines I was unable to get them to go into this retainer (it wasn't for lack of trying). So I just put back the 3 fuel lines and ran the new lines above it.
Remember that line I had to cut just to get the fitting out of the ABS pump? Well I decided to bend the new line from the pump down to somewhere under the radiator that I could access. This was my third and final union of the job.
You can see the pump and the line going up around it. To get access to the mounting bolt (just one - the other side has a rubber-isolated tab which just slides into a slot), you have to pry the plastic shield out of the way. It came out from the top, by the way, and it naturally got caught on every single line and some other stuff as I fought it out. Just a reminder that this is the original pump that I was able to reuse. Fortunately I never installed the junkyard one.
Here she is with all the lines connected. For the top 4, I used the 12 mm crow foot flare wrench on the end of an extension. And for the side fittings (which go to the front and rear channels of the master cylinder), I used a regular flare nut wrench.
Remember that Monroe brake line repair back in 2007? They used compression fittings. I paid like $250 for that repair. I imagine people get robbed there every single day of the week. Kind of sad. I will say these haven't leaked or given me any problems but it's clearly not the right way to repair a line.
Then I bled. Jamie was in CT for Easter so I spent a good 35 minutes looking for my Mityvac. I eventually found it. On this car, proper bleeding order is RR, LF, LR, RF. The split is diagonal rather than front/back. I could feel it when I operated the brakes briefly while putting it up on the ramps initially. There was a little yaw.
Everything buttoned up.
I bled twice around with the Mityvac, and used a full quart of fluid. The brakes feel about as they did before. The pedal may be a bit lower, so it may need to be bled the regular way. But it's totally serviceable. I actuated the ABS on some sand and it works as normal.