I'm in the process of changing out my original brake hoses for stainless steel ones. I'm stuck at the rear right with a couple of questions. The hose end closes to the caliper came off easily, it's the connection where the hose connects to the brake line that's giving me trouble. When I look up I see the 17mm nut with the 11mm nut on the other side of the bracket. What is the best way to approach this without breaking the brake line? Is there access to the 11mm nut from the engine compartment or do I just manage it from underneath the car? The bracket itself, do you just pull the top piece straight out to free the hose? Thanks in advance for any info.

Hi, access is from underneath. I recently did them, not SS, but in original rubber. There are several ways to remove them, including the one where you cut them so you can easily use tools on the nut of the softline. I did not do that. I did use penetrating oil a few days to soak the join between hard and softline. Then tried to loosen it a bit. When it became loose, I had a start. without cutting the line it is small turns at the time, and I got a bit messy from the brakefluid dripping down my arm
The flat locker ...I did tap it a bit sideways, so it was angled a bit and I could grap it to hit/pull it to left, right, left right etc till it came out.
I was warned it was a difficult job on the 914, in the end it was not that hard (for me)
I guess the cutting of the rubberhose is more easy for access, but then there is no way back

I won't use SS lines on a street car. Is it still required to pre-load them on installation?

What is ment by...pre-load them?

you will have to bend the bracket to access it with a line wrench

,I fitted a set to a VW Golf GTI for a customer "that had to have them" ,the front ones were PITA to preload in a relaxed position through out the movement of the steering.
Pedal feel was awful, they failed a vehicle inspection later on as they weren't compliant in my country,never going down that road again .

Brad Mayeur "pro tip": Pull the rain tube and use a crow's foot wrench through the tube hole, and several socket extensions

Huh - i’ve never had an issue with stainless steel brake lines, assuming they’re good quality, causing bad pedal feel.

@porschetub already nailed it, you have to ensure the line is tightened in the relaxed wheel position. What can happen (seen it myself) over time is the SS braids can fatigue and break. Since SS lines rely on those braids to hold in pressure, you can have a failure of a line. The one example I remember is a buddy of mine told me about while looking over his wrecked 911 was him stabbing on the brakes in heavy traffic. The line burst right at the frays reducing his braking power and smushed into the back of a truck.

Best to use oem soft lines and replace more often.