Front Brake hose length?

[toopy]

So, having finally got a day to faff with car when its not raining!

fitting the new brake hoses to the front of the car, i tried the drivers side first, which went ok
although the hose did seem a bit tight lock to lock

Left lock

Centered

Right lock

checking the new hoses against the old, there is maybe 2mm difference in length at the most, so shouldnt be an issue

Passenger side was much more awkward and fit looks positively wrong to me

Right lock

Centered

Left lock!!

Now, i appreciate the suspension is hanging, so the hose will be stretched out more than normal,
but it just looks so wrong, and much tighter than the drivers side

The kit has four hoses, two of which are shorter for the back brakes, ive checked and rechecked
and then checked again, and im definitely using the longer ones

 

[madda]

I'm sure you already have come to this conclusion, but that isn't safe and I would recommend getting in touch with your supplier and replacing them before using the car for anything more than shunting it about and putting it back in the garage.

 

[Wyn]

ditto, they look a mile out so wouldn't be using them
You sure they sent the right kit ?

 

[Rob Gaskin]

I'm sure you already have come to this conclusion, but that isn't safe and I would recommend getting in touch with your supplier and replacing them before using the car for anything more than shunting it about and putting it back in the garage.

Seen this Madda and I agree.

I think it's worth looking at pics of other cars to see if your brackets on the inner wings are in the normal position. I can see they have been re-attached at some time.

 

[morbias]

It looks to me like the 'hard' section on each end of the hose is too long, have you measured the length of the actual hose section in the middle and compared to the originals?

As Rob has pointed out, the brackets have been re-attached; though they look to be in roughly the right position one of them is at an angle which exacerbates the problem of the hose being too short.

[EDIT] here are a couple of pics of my drivers side for comparison, exact same position on the passenger side:

 

[morbias]

I think I've just realised what the problem could be; the bracket on the strut itself... mine are vertical and yours are horizontal. I wonder if your struts are from a different year car and if the bracket on the body was in a different position to correspond with it? Or maybe the later cars had different length hoses vs the earlier cars.

 

[toopy]

Agreed, its not safe and car isnt going anywhere

The hose kit was supplied by MJP, so no reason to assume mike got this wrong

The photo makes the bracket at an angle look worse than it is, although it is obviously not level.
The brackets could well have been reattached, it certainly looks that way compared to
the other pics posted, as for the horizontal/vertical issue of the strut bracket,
could that be a 240/260 difference?!

as Morbias pointed out, the metal end sections appear longer than original, which in my case
just makes the problem worse

The original hoses i took off, although they were fractionally longer, they were obviously still
not long enough really, for my particular car anyways. My car was rebuilt by a well known Z specialist
so im not very happy they didnt correct it

 

[morbias]

Looking at your gallery it appears that the brackets on the body are in the wrong place. Now, I don't know if it's the same for 260z 2+2's but where my brackets are way below the line of spot welds on the inner fender, yours are definitely above (not obvious in the photos at the top of this page because the underseal has hidden the welds).

Mine is an early 260z so it would be better if someone with a similar year 2+2 could double check the positions of these brackets, but take a look at this picture in your gallery and check out the position in relation to the spot welds:

http://zclub.net/forum/album.php?albumid=79&pictureid=1215

It might be a culmination of these different factors which has resulted in the brake hose being too stretched.

 

[toopy]

Looking at your gallery it appears that the brackets on the body are in the wrong place. Now, I don't know if it's the same for 260z 2+2's but where my brackets are way below the line of spot welds on the inner fender, yours are definitely above (not obvious in the photos at the top of this page because the underseal has hidden the welds).

Mine is an early 260z so it would be better if someone with a similar year 2+2 could double check the positions of these brackets, but take a look at this picture in your gallery and check out the position in relation to the spot welds:

http://zclub.net/forum/album.php?albumid=79&pictureid=1215

It might be a culmination of these different factors which has resulted in the brake hose being too stretched.

Thanks for that, i see exactly what you mean

Best get on to MrF and have some longer ones made up asap

 

[toopy]

Spoke to MrF and longer hoses now on order

As it turns out the slightly longer pair of hoses supplied in the kit are actually meant for the rear of the car!

So if anyone wants a pair of the front ones i now have no use for, £27 incl postage and there yours,
obviously never fitted, as new and with the blue cover on the hose as in the pics

 

[toopy]

I think I've just realised what the problem could be; the bracket on the strut itself... mine are vertical and yours are horizontal. I wonder if your struts are from a different year car and if the bracket on the body was in a different position to correspond with it? Or maybe the later cars had different length hoses vs the earlier cars.

Mike confirmed the different angle of the strut bracket is a 240/260 standard difference