I am not looking to discuss the value of SS over OEM rubber so lets leave that out. I will be running SS lines. This is a track car and the lines and the rest of the car will get inspected before every track weekend.

I am doing the maintenance to the braking system on my new track car. The PO did a five lug swap front and rear. Front is from a 911 and the rear seems to use the 944 half shafts. They way the brake lines are configured is ridged line to flex line back to ridged line. In the front the final ridged line is tucked away between the rotor dust cover and the strut tube. In the rear the rigid line follows the trailing arm and the turns down and up in to the caliper. Looks like it has a different attachment point than the stock on the trailing arm.





Question 1: I am not happy at all with the rear configuration. Looks totally unsafe; the picture really does not show just how low and unprotected it is but its the only one I have at the moment. So I am looking to change that out and am looking for recommendations.

In general I don't like the added failure points of the extra ridged lines and their connections. I especially don't like having to flex the ridged lines back and forth to service the calipers, rotors, bearings, etc.... At some point metal fatigue will effect them.

Question 2: Are there any racers running flex lines from the chassis to the calipers? I would like to see how you realized this.

Thanks,

Miguel

Miguel,
PM Eric_Shea or Racer Chris regarding the lines. They can give you solid, track-tested advice on brakes, especially the 911 swap.

To answer your question though, they should have hard lines that are secured to the tabs on the bottom side of the trailing arm, where they junction with the flex lines. Both Chris (Tangerine Racing) and Eric (PMB Performance) should be able to set you up with the properly bent hardlines for your application.

I've done installations with full custom flex lines but I still use the hard lines to the calipers on my own race car.
Aeroquip has the hose and fittings to make your own brake hoses any length.
-3AN is the correct size for brakes.
I think you'll need special fittings on the calipers to adapt from metric to AN flare.

For new hard lines, PMB is the place to go, but I don't know if he sells individual pieces or sets only.

Thanks Chris. I took Painted's advice and called Eric. He did not think the super long flex lines was a reasonable solution.

Eric thought the best plan of action was for me to make a template, with coat hangers, of the routing I want and he would make me the custom lines. The price he quoted was very reasonable.

I'll spend some time thinking over routing options next time I am at the shop.

Thanks,

Miguel

The setup you show looks like the normal way. I've done this on cars and I've also used flex lines the whole way. Check out www.Behrents.com for premade stainless flex lines. They are better and cheaper than you can make on your own. You have to convert from metric bubble to AN3, so it's a bunch of adapters. I've always switched the car to regular double flair then used the AN lines.

Some people will argue that flex lines will expand slightly and give less pedal feel, though others will argue it doesn't matter. I would say with the brake fluid pressures you will see on the 914, long flex lines won't hurt anything.

Inspect your SS hoses, but also plan a concrete time to replace them, regardless of appearances. Likely they will look fine right up until the day they pop - so plan to replace them every few years.

I'm using full braided lines on my ChumpCar 914 project.

A guy I know that competes in the Canadian Rally Championship runs his Subi with these lines and good enough for him = good enough for me.

I ordered the lines from Pegasus - Basically Goodridge AN3 hoses with 10mm banjo at the m/c end and female AN3 on the other end. Add some various T fittings and some AN3 adapter fittings for the calipers and you're set.

There were a couple reasons for me to do the switch -
- I'm tracking a 40yr old rusty 914 and didn't trust the old lines
- Cost was about the same as new hard lines + flex lines
- Full braided lines mean only I only have 1/3 - 1/2 the connections vs oem hard / flex lines
- Easy to replace and I can have a set of spares in the truck

Regards,
AM