rear end HELP!!!

[Heartbeat_of_94]

so we installed my rear end today...install went smooth and took a leisurely 3 hours to drop the old one and put in the "new" one with new shocks and springs. not too bad. but we did hit a snag with the brake system. switching from a rear drum to a rear disc setup...and we can't figure out how to hook up my brake cables. keep in mind that i'm not talking about he e-brake cables, i'm just referring to the regular brakes. right now the only option we have come up with is the find the necessary adapters which could take a few days.

so my question is...what solutions have yall come up with when making a rear drum to disc rear end swap? what did yall do? or what would you suggest? need help asap cause i'll need the car for school soon so any help will be appreciated greatly!

[hockeyman]

Re: rear end HELP!!!

Was the replacement rear a disk setup? If so, I cannot picture where you're running into any problems... I unbolted the Brake Line's "T" fitting where it splits off at the rear, and bolted the new "T" fitting on the disk brake rear. It was a straight bolt-on with no issues.
Can you take any photo's and email them to me?

pomarco331b@aol.com

[Heartbeat_of_94]

Re: rear end HELP!!!

checked things out a little more...the problem arises from the brake lines themselves. the one running from the front to the back (the stock line) is a standard line and the two running from the new rear end (one at each caliper) are metric. so basically its getting the two metric lines into a t-fitting that will convert to the standard line that leads to the front. is this possible? or would i have to ditch the single standard line and rerun two new metric brake lines from the ABS to the rear? that just a shot in the dark. i'm totally new to this but the guy helping me knows his stuff so he's working on a solution while i'm trying to seek one out on here as well. i do know that my stock lines are standard and the ones on the new rear end are mettric so things aren't fitting together...and thats the problem. i don't have pics at the moment but i'll get some tomorrow if we don't hammer this out by then. but please if anyone has any info or ideas let me know i'm still tryin to figure this stuff out!

[hockeyman]

Re: rear end HELP!!!

I've never heard of two standard fittings and one metric (or vise-versa) on the same "T" fitting...? I'mtrying to think if you can buy another "T" fitting somewhere with those specs, but I cannot think of any right now. There's definately a way, but you'll have to crunch some brain cells while thinking of the solution.
What's coming to me right now is buying a brake line fitting and re-flaring it onto the brake line. The old flare must be carefully straightened, slide the fitting off, and slide the new metric or standard fitting on, then re-flare it again. That's one solution. I don't think you'll need to replace the WHOLE brake line. You'll just have to replace the screw part of it.

[Heartbeat_of_94]

Re: rear end HELP!!!

thanks hockeyman, i'll be sure and tell my dad's friend (the guy helping us out with the swap) about that idea. he use to work on this stuff all the time and had a shop and all this stuff. he's done rear end swaps a bunch but it was a while ago. he thinks he knows just what to do its just finding the parts we need. so hopefully he'll have this hammered out soon and we can get this puppy off the lift!

i'm still looking for possible solutions to present him with though just in case he can't figure anything out. so thanks again hockeyman and if you or anyone else comes up with anything other ideas or info...PLEASE let me know!

[Heartbeat_of_94]

Re: rear end HELP!!!

problem solved and the brakes are installed and working perfectly now. my dad's buddy had to open the lines and cut and flare them to make them work but while me and dad were out looking for some info on the front strut/shock assemblies, he got the brakes done and suprised us with them when we got back 45 minutes later :). but i'll have pics of the rear end install and the front end as soon as we finish the front end.

[FunkZ]

Re: rear end HELP!!!

Just FYI this was a traction control rear with individual lines for left and right, which like Heartbeat said, use 2 different sized connectors (so you can't get them reversed) and neither of which are the same as used on the standard single-line rear.

Glad to hear you got it worked out. That's basically what I had to do to my first rear... cut the T fitting and ends off my old lines and reuse them on the new.