Help on fitting brake pipe over gearbox

I'm fitting a new brake pipe, the one which goes over the gearbox from nearside to the offside. I have the engine and gearbox out, I have also removed the two large aluminium coolant pipes, it isn't obvious how the pipe goes in. Does anybody have any photos showing the original routing that I can see? I am currently thinking that I will be best off dropping the subframes to give better access, is this the way it is done? This is where I am at the moment. Thanks for any pointers. MC

Brake pipes are fitted first when they made these cars .. its been a few years since ive done this but from memory i just undo the clamps for the other pipes , pull them down and feed the brake pipe through .. You can bend the brake pipe as much as needed but just make sure you bend it back so it fits in the brackets for it . Your only other option is to remove all the pipes then fit the brake pipe .. bit of a mission .. To be honest i seem to remember it was a struggle but do able .

Thanks, fortunately most pipes can be easily moved. I'll remove subframes and pull out the handbrake cables to make it easier, I want to bend it as little as possible. A bit of a design oversight IMO given that of all the pipes down there, this is probably most likely to be changed! MC

Looks like a few bits of minor surface rust at the seams - is the plan to tidy them up whilst you have access? Ian

I thought the same, would deff want to tidy that up before replacing...What's the year please

The rust on the edges of the seams was one reason I wanted to remove the engone and gearbox. It will be fully treated, details will be in my C4 build thread. MC

Hi MisterCorn. I did mine with engine in but gearbox out. I chopped the old out in sections, then bent up my cunifer pipe to match as close as possible by zip tieing it to the old bits and bending a bit at a time. Then I undid all the pipe clip wiring clips etc I could from the body to drop things out of the way a little. I did not "remove" anything else, all the coolant pipes etc stayed in and full of coolant just dropped them down a bit. I had to feed it in from one side (I used tape to protect the flare) and un bend / rebend a few bits to get it in, e.g. near the ends where comes back up towards the caliper. Fiddly job and you don't want to be bending it too much to avoid work hardening. Theres no way you'll get it in without a bit of bending unless you drop everything out like at the factory. another reason cunifer is better as a replacement than OE steel as bending steel will damage the coating. Now can you imagine trying to do this with gearbox in

Is there any flex in the steel pipes to be able to do that?

There is not a lot of flex in the steel pipe at all. I'm making progress on it now, I'm not that bothered if I have to take more pipes out, the majority of them are pretty easy to remove. MC

Just in case anybody sees this but not my other thread, I'll post the details here as well. B removing both subframes, and undoing the top two clips securing the air con pipes it is possible to get the new pipe in. There is a bit of wiggling to do, but it all goes in without ever being bent past it's elastic limit, which is exactly what I wanted. You can still see the old pipe in these photos as I haven't connected the end of it yet at the joining block under the sill. MC

As a matter of interest where does the pipe actually corrode?

I assume it is as the exposed end in the wheel well. Mine was absolutely fine but it was a non-original copper pipe which had been fitted some time ago by a previous owner, so I wanted to replace it with a proper pipe whilst I had the engine and gearbox out. MC

In the pipe clips. DeMort says he has had them go pop on a test drive brake test after servicing.

Hmmm. I'll need to have a gander at mine.

When I changed the front transverse brake pipe (after dropping the subframe) I found I had to remove the petrol tank strap to get the old one off, however, the new pipe from Porsche fitted over the tank strap. This did cause some minor head scratching trying to get it under the tank strap, but figured it out quickly. Just be aware pipes may have been re-designed to aid replacement and not follow the exact route of the old one! Regards Ian