Brake Lines (from Hell), a set on Flickr.
Our Integra had severe rusting in all lines at the point where they reached the section of the chassis right before the fuel tank, including leaks in both of the rear brake lines. We figure this is probably because of the plastic shields in that area, which may have functioned as a nice place for water and road salt to accumulate and rust the lines away. Yesterday we set off to replace these lines, plus the other three lines going aft, all fuel related (since they were all rusted away and ready to leak anyway).
Well, turns out that replacing the brake lines in their entirety (from the proportioning valve aft) requires not only dropping the fuel tank, but also removing a forward cross-member that's a mounting point for
lots of things under the hood—pretty much all the suspension components and the steering. So a simple leak in a brake line requires you to disassemble most of the car to replace it. Next time your mechanic tells you it will take $3,000.00 to replace the brake lines in your Integra you may want to consider he might not be trying to rob you blind this time.
In the end we decided instead to use connectors, chopping the lines just aft of the oft-cursed aforementioned cross-member and attaching them to the new tubing we fashioned ourselves. The whole process took us 14 hours from planning to execution, give or take (most of them spent scratching our heads in disbelief, trips to Autozone, drinking beer and making fart jokes). Connectors are not ideal, but will do for now. We only replaced the passenger-side brake line, but we could probably do all the remaining lines in a half-day next time.
