Rear Axle Brake Pipe fittings

[dursleyman]

I was happily replacing the brake pipes on my TR7 axle, having made up some new pipes, only to find that the heads of the new nuts foul on the back plate before they tighten in the cylinders. The nuts are too short.
All the new male metric nuts I have in stock are a similar length - about 13mm from the end of the nut to the start of the hexagon head.
Has anyone else had this problem please?
Am I just unlucky with my nuts (!) or is there a source of longer ones?


Russ

1980 TR7 DHC
Dursley
UK

[DNK]

You still have the stock handy?
Measure them

Don
"No More Cars For You"
71 TR6- Perpetual remodel
80 TR7 V8 Kick in the pants

[busheytrader]

Where did you source your fittings from?

I've replaced the rear cylinders twice and the rear pipes once over the years, sourcing them from the usual suspects of Robsport / S&S.

I'd have a word with one of them for the correct parts.

Adam




TR7 V8 DHC Jaguar Solent Blue. 9.35cr Range Rover V8, Holley 390cfm, JWR Dual Port, 214 Cam, Lumention, Tubular Manifolds, S/S Single Pipe Exh, 3.08 Rear, 200lb Spax & PolyBushes all round, Anti- Dive, Strut-Top Roller Bearings, Capri Vented Discs & Calipers, Braided Hoses, 4 Speed Rear Cylinders, Uprated Master Cylinder & Servo, AT 14" 5 Spokes or Maestro Turbo 15" Alloys, Cruise Lights, S/S Heater Pipes, Replacement Fuel Tank. No Door Stickers. Mine since July 1986, V8 from 1991 courtesy of S&S V8 conversion and big brake kits.

[dursleyman]

Don, thank you for asking the obvious question I should have asked myself. The old ones got a bit damaged taking them off so I had thrown them in the junk bin. I just had a dig in the bin and found one, they measure about 17-18mm, so about 5mm longer than my new stock.
..............
Adam, thanks yes, my next call in the morning will be to Robsport to get some from them but I just wanted to run the issue past the forum to get some feedback and raise awareness.
...........
Its an irritating problem you don't see coming and luckily I have no time pressure to get it finished.
............
I should add my thanks to J Clay Thompson for his excellent step-by-step photo guide on how to fit all the springs and adjuster bits, it is superb.
see http://web.mac.com/jclaythompson/Site/Rear_Brakes.html

Russ

1980 TR7 DHC
Dursley
UK

[jclay (RIP 2018)]

You are welcome!

Clay

[url="http://web.me.com/jclaythompson/Site/Welcome.html"]My Triumph Site[/url], [url="http://web.me.com/jclaythompson/Technical"]Technical Stuff[/url], [url="https://public.me.com/jclaythompson"]My Public Folder[/url], [url="http://web.me.com/jclaythompson/tr8/Welcome.html"]My TR8 Site[/url]

[DNK]

Russ, to avoid problems in the next go around. Who did you buy them from and did you give them a courteous call to let them know they had a problem?

Don
"No More Cars For You"
71 TR6- Perpetual remodel
80 TR7 V8 Kick in the pants

[Spectatohead]

I had the same problem with the Goodridge kit I got from VB. All three hoses were the same length. The fronts were fine but the original rear was considerably longer than the new hoses. Unfortunately, I don't remember how much longer, but 17 or 18 mm sounds about right. I never brought it to VB's attention and still have the left over hose. I went to a local hydraulic shop and got a generic steel braided hose the correct length and they put adapters on so the fittings matched up. It works great but it did cost me $29.

Jim Clark
'80 TR8
'97 Maxima 5spd

[dursleyman]

Don, I have a small stock of various brake fittings on the shelf in the garage so I used some of those -but my metric nuts all the short ones- so I have no-one to blame except myself.
Since my original post I have had a rummage around on various suppliers and the good ones list both a short and a long metric fitting so getting them seems to be easy enough. You just have to know that you need the long ones for those rear axle pipes. Next time I will be prepared!!

Just another learning point and one of the reasons we love/hate old cars all at the same time.

Russ

1980 TR7 DHC
Dursley
UK

[DNK]

Russ, I plan on routing individual SS lines to each wheel when I do my disk conversion. Don't know if it will matter then, but I'll be prepared . Thanks

Don
"No More Cars For You"
71 TR6- Perpetual remodel
80 TR7 V8 Kick in the pants

[dursleyman]

Don, we always used to make up our own stainless flexible brake pipes on our rally cars. It gives a superb pedal feel and looks good.
They are a bit of a b*gg*r to cut as the stainless wire keeps fraying so the trick is to wrap some plastic insulation tape around and then saw through the tape with a fine toothed saw. Then you have the fun job of getting the olive down between the stainless sheath and the nylon inner only to find you forgot to put the fitting on !!.
I would suggest you get a good supply of fittings and a few spare olives as you always find you need a different one to what you expected and there are dozens of variations to choose from. We had a local speed shop who let us go through his stores to find the ones we needed because its not cheap.
Our stuff was always Goodridge Aeroquip brand but you must have a similar type in the USA.
Its a job well worth doing.
Good luck.

Russ

1980 TR7 DHC
Dursley
UK

[DNK]

Russ, Long time ago I use to do all that myself. Now days I find a local shop to do it.

Don
"No More Cars For You"
71 TR6- Perpetual remodel
80 TR7 V8 Kick in the pants