I trusted the brake lines on my Spit were OK and cleaned the grunge and surface
rust off then painted with POR-15. All working well to date.
If you have doubts that the lines have rusted from the inside, you may feel more
comfortable replacing them. Mine looked good from the outside and when I drained
the lines, there was no sign of moisture.
I wouldn't bother sandblasting as they clean up easily enough with emery paper.
I also did the front calipers. There are re-build kits available but I didn't
need them. You need to be careful not to lose the small seal (looks like an
o-ring) that seals the passage between the two pieces. Before separating the
pieces, you need to get the pistons out first. You can blow them out with air
pressure or attach a grease nipple and pump in grease to force them out. Grease
is safer.
Once the pistons are out, a visual inspection may indicate that the piston is
rusted and/or the bore is corroded. My pistons were very lightly rusted and fine
emery paper cleaned them up. The bore was OK and also could be cleaned up with
fine emery paper. If the piston is badly pitted, toss it an get a new one. If
the bore is the same, start looking for new ones.
Make sure everything is spotlessly clean when you re-assemble. Don't for get the
seal. The bolts have to be torqued to specific level and I don't recall exactly
but it was around 50 ft-lb.
Vic Whitmore
76 Spitfire
Thornhill, Ontario
"Bowen, Patrick A" wrote:
>
> I currently have my frame stripped bare, to include the brake lines. On my
> rebuild I am converting to Silicon fluid on all my hydraulics, and
> rebuilding everything while I am at it. The lines I have appear in good
> shape, is there any reason to replace them? History, the car sat for the
> last Seven years not running. If it is ok to keep them, would it be OK to
> sandblast the exterior to clean off all the undercoating and grease and gunk
> all over them. Any reason not to? Also, how hard is it to rebuild front
> calipers? What does that entail.
>
> Patrick Bowen
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