Pipes

tim leech · Post by **tim leech** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 9:39 pm

I have bought some genuine new front to rear pipes for my 16v as mine are tired to say the least, as Docs had a cow stand on his foot aswell as his car

I was thinking how hard are they to change? Is it a case of depressurise the system and unscrew the old one and insert the new one?

Sorry if this is daft but I thought I would ask, I have changed brake pipes before and wondered if it was the same idea.

Any suggestions would be useful!

ken newbold · Post by **ken newbold** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 9:58 pm

That's all there is to it

But.

Things like access, rust, muck and grime come to mind. Do you have the rear brake and suspension pipes? Also I've found it very desirable to have spare rear calipers to hand.

adamskibx · Post by **adamskibx** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 10:01 pm

The fact that you have new pipes makes it far easier, as it doesnt matter if you get the old ones off neatly or not. Just do one at a time, and spray penetrating oil at all the unions a few times as far in advance as you can. You need new rubber seals, as it is a false economy to use the old ones. These just drop in the same way the old ones come out, but make sure the new pipes go in straight, and do the union nuts up so they wont come undone, but not too tight either. Ideally you need an open ended ring spanner to get a decent grip on the old pipes, although the new pipes have higher quality union nuts and wont be dameged at the torque required when putting them in when using a standard spanner. Sytem depressurised at the bleed screw on the regulator after car up on axel stands is the way to go.

tim leech · Post by **tim leech** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 11:04 pm

ken newbold wrote:That's all there is to it

But.

Things like access, rust, muck and grime come to mind. Do you have the rear brake and suspension pipes? Also I've found it very desirable to have spare rear calipers to hand.

I will have a look ken to see what I have, I think its just the front to rears. Do they go over or under the rear subframe?,I was thinking of changing that anyway as mines rusty, but I expect thats a twat of a job!

AndersDK · Post by **AndersDK** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 1:05 am

Over the rr sub. Thats why some prefer to lower the rr sub to get access.

As long as the piping is well secured (nylon zippers - even several joined to make adequate lenght) and cant be scraped by any nearby moving members it does not really matters on exact fitting of the pipes.

Do one pipe at a time

Or you will loose track on how & where they fits

DLM · Post by **DLM** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 9:52 am

My pennyworth of advice on the subject is this: if possible, replace another shorter hydraulic pipe first as a practice run, if there's one in need of replacement.

This will provide valuable practice before trying the front to rears. The reason? While each set of pipes have their own problems, there's more to consider on the front-to-rears then most of the others, and it gives an opportunity to get used to all of the usual problems such as corroded-in unions, access, t-pieces that need clamping during disassembly, and getting used to using the Citroen seals.

I'll freely admit to never having replaced a set of the front-to-rears (but will be doing it soon), though I did strip some cunifer ones from a scrapper once, and found that dropping the rear subframe is a very good idea, if not essential.

tim leech · Post by **tim leech** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 4:00 pm

Thanks for the advice guys, is dropping the subframe a hard job?

Way2go · Post by **Way2go** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 1:51 am

tim leech wrote:Thanks for the advice guys, is dropping the subframe a hard job?

Easy enough with access to the bolts in the boot. Best to remove both rear spheres also to facilitate job.
I tried to fit my pipe without dropping it but even though the pipe is pre-formed, it is nigh on impossible to thread it through without.

Have you started the job yet? Winter will be over before you know it.

Jaba · Post by **Jaba** » Thu Nov 08, 2007 8:42 am

Another thing to check first is that one of the pipes is 4.5mm and the others are 3.5mm. An ABS car needs the larger pipe.

Did you buy them from the the bubble car collecter in Faringdon ??

Mike E (uk) · Post by **Mike E (uk)** » Fri Nov 09, 2007 6:11 pm

You will have to bleed the system afterwards too.

I doubt if the job can be done without lowering the rear subframe.

It is here that they rust too, so replace all 4 pipes.

Access is the biggest problem, a lift or a pit will make it far easier.

Mike

citronut · Post by **citronut** » Fri Nov 09, 2007 10:20 pm

it is beter to lower the sub frame then you can make sure all the pipes go exactly were they are ment to, it is very important to get them all back in there clips and mounts, as they must not rubb each other or any thing elss, i have done quite a few seta now for my customers, i have also seen they were they have just been chucked up under there to find there own way and worn through on the back of the rear are in a mater of a couple of weeks, it is quite easy to lower the rear sub frame two studs up through boot floor the other 4 just inside the rear door shut beside the rear seat swab under the carpet, with the car suported saftly unclip the pipes quite away along the chassis rail so when you lower the S/F you can still trace the pipes, have fun
were abouts are you im in st leonards on sea east sussex
regards malcolm