Rear Brake swap Q's: 86 SVO into 81 Ghia, hard line connections

[Tony Raine]

Rear axle, brake hard lines

86 SVO: center mount "tee"

81 Ghia: passenger side mount "tee"

my idea for the 86 hard lines: put a "coupler" where the tee was. Then cut the hard line on the passenger side, flare it, and mount the 81 style "tee" in the 81 location for a direct bolt in.

my questions:

-Are the "nuts" the same thread for the 81 and 86? or did they change?

-What size are they?


Alternate idea:

Swap the entire 81 hard line onto the '86 axle, and bend the ends to line up correctly with the rubber lines going to the calipers.

Similar question:

-Are the threads the same?


I am asking these questions because I have been told that the hard lines changed from a standard thread to a metric thread at some point in time in the fox body lineage. I know I will have to dial down the rear with an adjuster, or just get the "proportioning valve" from a disk/disk setup.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

[wraithracing]

The first question I would ask is do you plan on running dual exhaust on your Ghia?

If the answer is Yes now or in the future, I would keep the center mount Tee from the SVO as you will need/want that for clearance.

If you don't plan on running dual exhaust then you can go either way. Personally I find it easier to modify the chassis hard line rather than change/swap/modify the axle line(s).

Personally I would install an adjustable proportioning valve, gut the stock proportioning valve and you will be set.

Trey

[Tony Raine]

Oh crap, I had not thought about exhaust. I will be running duals. Do i have to change the entire hard line, all the way back to the proportioning valve?

I would go out and crawl under, but both are sitting in mud (its been raining for the past several days)

[wraithracing]

No I don't believe you "HAVE" to change the whole hard line out. It might be easier depending on what you want to do, but not a requirement. Usually you can modify your existing hardline to fit the center mount flexible line by cutting and reflaring as needed. But I would definitely consider using the center mount if you plan on running the dual exhaust as it will save you a lot of headaches and possible burned brake hoses.

Trey

[JACook]

What I have done is to extend the existing chassis hard line, using a 90º inverted-flare fitting, and an
additional length of hard line, to reach the center brake hose position. Others have chosen to just use
the later style factory hard line that runs along the driveshaft tunnel.

I personally believe your existing chassis hard line is in a better protected position than what was used
on the later cars, but either way gets the job done safely. The most important thing is to get the rear
brake hose away from the passenger-side tail pipe.

[82GTforME]

If you have dumps that end before the rear axle you may avoid all of the issues.

I'm actually going to change back to the rear exit exhaust in the future and will have to deal with this too. I like Jeff's idea of advancing the line to the middle. Just need to find or build a bracket to secure it once you are there.

I found a brake and hose type shop here that carries all kinds of flared fitting etc.

Good Luck.