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Update:

I'm done with the brake line and fuel line job. To anyone attempting to do this project, be aware that it was a total bear of a job. All in all it took me almost 4 full days. I have replaced engines, transmissions, and done all sorts of custom work. This job was about a 7-8/10 in terms of difficulty mainly due to the tight work space.

The way I did it was:

-Purchased (2) 25 foot rolls of 3/16 Ni/Cu brake line tubing. I bought the rolls off amazon and they came with a spare set of fittings. You are going to need to purchase 2 rolls if you are going to replace all the lines. A single 25 foot roll was hardly enough to just do the rear lines.

-Purchased 2 rear brake hoses and 2 front brake hoses from RockAuto. I purchased the Sunsong brand. Although they work, be aware that the front hoses are not built exactly the way they should be. The hoses are supposed to be secured to the chassis with two bolt, but the "earlobes" on the hoses are not spread far enough to reach both holes so I could only secure to the chassis with 1 bolt. This should be fine, but I would rather have them secured properly with both bolts. Also, one of the brake line fittings in the hose wasn't drilled correctly. I had to re-use one of the OEM fittings on the brake line since the OEM fitting is thicker and stronger than the cheap fitting that came with my brake lines. The connection is strong and leak free, but if you purchase the sunsong hoses just make sure the end where your brake line threads into is drilled straight and the threads in there are in good condition. Make sure your brake line fittings thread into the hole correctly before you start taking your car apart. Rockauto will send you a replacement hose no questions asked if you purchase through them.

-Purchased a 2 foot roll of "R9" spec 1/4" fuel hose from AdvancedAutoParts along with fuel injection hose clamps in size 13. When purchasing fuel hose, you can purchase the standard R6 spec or the upgraded R9 spec. R6 spec is good for up to 50 psi and R9 spec is good up to 200 psi. The R9 spec is also built much better and is compatible with all sorts of fuels including diesel and biofuels. The R6 may be sufficient for the insight but I wasn't sure what the fuel psi was so I just bought the R9 spec since it should last longer anyway and it was only about $2 more.

For tools, you will need a various assortment of pliers, wrenches, pick tools, screwdriver set, a quality brake line flaring tool and brake line cutting/deburring tool.

Once I gathered all this stuff I just dug right in. I supported the rear of the car as high as I could on jack stands and began removing all the underpanels, clips, and finally the brake lines themselves. Work at a comfortable pace, keep your workspace clean and organized, and either take pictures or notes to keep track of how everything came apart so you know how to put it all back together correctly.

The culprit spot where my brake line burst was in the rear near the right rear tire. However, the entire rear section looked like it was ready to go. For some absolutely absurd and asinine reason, Honda decided to coat the brake and fuel lines only up to a certain point. After this point the lines are completely exposed to the elements and will eventually corrode through and fail. It is honestly a little infuriating that Honda would do this. Such an amazing car and yet they decided to not coat a section of the lines which leads to failure. If they had just coated the entire length of lines then corrosion and safety would not be a problem. Why did you do this Honda???

Here is a pic of the lines in the rear where the coating stops. The lines basically run flat along the bottom of the chassis and then bend upward at the rear of the chassis and route to each wheel and the fuel tank. It is right after the lines bend upward that the coating stops. In this picture I have already routed new Ni/Cu lines to replace the brake lines but you can see the remaining fuel lines:




For the brake lines, I just ran an entire new length of lines. For the fuel lines, as ackattacker suggested, it might be easier to address corrosion by simply cutting out the corroded section and replacing it with fuel hose. That is exactly what I did (with the R9 hose). The R9 hose fit very tightly over the remaining coated fuel line sections. I had to apply grease to the line to help get the hose over one of the humps in the line so that I can have a sufficiently secure connection. I then put the hose clamps over the hose and tightened everything down. It is completely leak free and I feel confident about the connection. It would of been a lot more work to route new fuel line so this fix is a nice solution.



You can see that it was only a very short section of fuel line that wasn't coated. This small section corrodes out and can give you a very dangerous fuel leak. Again it just perplexes me that Honda coated 99% of the fuel line but left just this one stupid section exposed.

I ended up routing the new brake lines through the factor OEM locations. You do not absolutely have to do this, but I didn't feel comfortable with alternative routes so I just decided to keep it factory. It was definitely extra work, but I feel it was worth it. It was very challenging especially to route the new brake line behind the fuel tank and make it sit in one of the clips that is up there. I had to use an old section of brake line as a "hook" tool to make it work. In hindsight, I would recommend on planning to lower the fuel tank if you are going to do this job. Most likely your fuel straps need to be replaced anyway if your brake and fuel lines are shot. I didn't replace mine because I didn't have new straps and mine didn't look too bad, but it would of made the job of routing the brake line behind the fuel tank much easier.

Once the rears were done I did the front lines. Although the fronts were still decently tough to do, they were MUCH easier than the rears, mostly because I wasn't rolling around on the floor 99% of the time.


It should be noted that I did not replace ALL the lines under the hood. The lines going from my brake master cylinder to the ABS splitter box were in good shape. I traced them all the way and for some reason the corrosion didn't attack them. The lines going from the ABS splitter box to each wheel were the ones I replaced.

The last thing to do was the flush the system. I used Honda DOT 3 fluid. I only had 2 leaks that needed to be tightened up and they stopped. I was done at this point and am super thankful I'll never have to worry about brake or fuel lines again.

I hope this write up is helpful to someone. I know I missed some information so please post in here or PM me with any specific questions.
 
Great write up, @Revtach thank you very much! I know that I need to tackle this at some point in the next year or two. I much appreciate the details and pictures. It looks good. Nice job!
 
For the fuel lines, as ackattacker suggested, it might be easier to address corrosion by simply cutting out the corroded section and replacing it with brake hose.
Great write-up! I did pretty much the same, but I rerouted the brake lines. You might want to change "brake" to "fuel" in the above quote to avoid confusing someone.
 
@Revtach thank you for posting. The brakes blew on my Citrus and I'm starting on this.

I wasn't planning on replacing all my brake lines though. Just planning on using unions to get thru for now, then tackle this repair head-on next year.

I think your picture (on the left) corresponds to the rear passenger side picture on the right? It now becomes clear to me that the purpose of that "hole" is to inspect the brake lines at those points (because Honda didn't coat them all the way).

92050


If you still have the old original brake lines, do you think it's possible to strip off some of the black "coating" off, flare the end, then use a brake union? I agree that it's best to replace the brake lines but I'm looking for quick solutions for now (but not compression fittings).
 
@Revtach thank you for posting. The brakes blew on my Citrus and I'm starting on this.

I wasn't planning on replacing all my brake lines though. Just planning on using unions to get thru for now, then tackle this repair head-on next year.

I think your picture (on the left) corresponds to the rear passenger side picture on the right? It now becomes clear to me that the purpose of that "hole" is to inspect the brake lines at those points (because Honda didn't coat them all the way).

View attachment 92050

If you still have the old original brake lines, do you think it's possible to strip off some of the black "coating" off, flare the end, then use a brake union? I agree that it's best to replace the brake lines but I'm looking for quick solutions for now (but not compression fittings).
Yes those pictures do correspond. So I guess Honda added that inspection hole deliberately because they knew that not coating that section of lines could be a problem. Makes no sense to me why they would go about it in such a way instead of just coating the whole length of line.

Yes it is definitely feasible to strip some of the coating off, re-flare, and use a union to replace just the distal end of the lines that go to the wheels. There's no need to consider that to be a temporary fix either; it would be a perfectly acceptable long term solution and would save you a bit of work. I actually considered doing that at the suggestion of a friend but decided to replace whole length of lines with ni/cu lines thinking that it would be a more permanent fix, but now that I think about it that really isn't true. The coated section of the brake and fuel lines was in perfect condition underneath the coating. So if you used ni/cu lines for your distal repair section, and then added some type of spray on coating to the small exposed steel section that you just flared (or maybe just wrapped it in plastic wrapping paper to protect it from the elements) your repair would be just as permanent. As an added bonus, you would only need to purchase one 25 foot roll of brake line tubing and that would be enough to do the distal section of the rear and the entire front lines.

I'd make sure you have a quality flaring tool for the steel lines because steel does not flare as easy as ni/cu and is less forgiving with imperfect flares. With ni/cu flares, even if they aren't close to perfect, I just snug the fitting down tight and they seal right up and don't leak. In the past with steel line flares they would just leak and leak if the flare wasn't good enough no matter how much I tightened them. When that happens you have to re-cut the lines, re-flare, hope this time the flare comes out better, and hope you have enough slack in your repair section to extend out a few inches to reconnect.

There is a new flaring tool out on Amazon, Titan 51535, that is very affordable and appears to produce excellent flares every time. The tool is also small and would work great for working in a tight space such as underneath the insight.

You are still going to have to replace the front lines in their entirety though. There was no coating on the front lines at all. Although big sections of my front lines were free from the corrosion, the sections around the wheels were highly corroded and it really wouldn't save you any work by cutting, re-flaring, and adding a union.
 
That's good to hear -- I even have that Titan 51535 flaring tool (just arrived). Didn't think about flaring steel lines though, I hope this flaring tool is up to the task with steel lines and not just the softer nickel-copper.
 
Great writeup, thank you.

I wonder why Honda didn't use corrosion-proof lines in the first place. Can't you make them out of stainless steel? This all reminds me of the old-fashioned exhaust systems that rusted out every couple of years.
 
Under the hood, on the passenger side, there are 3 brake pipe clips holding the brake lines together.

Automotive tire Terrestrial plant Rim Auto part Automotive exterior


In the picture on the left, it seems a screwdriver can be used to pry the clip apart. I just worry that excessive movement could stress my fragile brake lines elsewhere.

On the other 2 pictures, I couldn't find a spot to pry the clips apart.

Is there another way to open these plastic clips? Or should they just be cut apart with diagonal cutters and replaced?

Update: thanks @HawkI (Ted) for showing me how to do this at the 2021 Mid-Atlantic meet.

Product Automotive tire Automotive lighting Bumper Motor vehicle


Edit1 to fix 1st set of pics.
Edit2 to add 2nd set of pics and answer question.
 
I got the old rusty brake line (from ABS modulator to the front driver side brake hose) off my Citrus.

It's the brake line outlined in red in the image below.

Line Font Map Auto part Diagram


I'd like to ask for opinions regarding fabrication of this specific brake line from others who have already done it (@HawkI, @Revtach, @Natalya, @Gasoline Fumes to name a few).

Using NiCopp line, should I fabricate the new brake line ...
  • starting from the ABS modulator and finishing at the front driver side brake hose? Or
  • starting from the front driver side brake hose and finishing at the ABS modulator?

Or instead of fabricating one long brake line, would it be easier if I split the fabrication into a left side and a right side, flare all the ends then join the two sides with a union?

George
 
George,

My preference was to run all new NiCopp lines to replace the old. I did them one at a time to keep it organized. I had a big advantage as the engine, transmission and fuel tank were off the car when I did it. I don't like to add extra unions.

I started with the ABS modulator as it has overlaps and makes it simpler to follow the design already there. Also, I treated the engine compartment as one project for lines that started and ended in the front. Then I did the lines that ran from the engine compartment to the back.

Hope that helps.

Cheers,
Ted
 
Purchased 2 rear brake hoses and 2 front brake hoses from RockAuto. I purchased the Sunsong brand. Although they work, be aware that the front hoses are not built exactly the way they should be. The hoses are supposed to be secured to the chassis with two bolt, but the "earlobes" on the hoses are not spread far enough to reach both holes so I could only secure to the chassis with 1 bolt.
Has anybody found an aftermarket brand of front brake hoses that have the correct "earlobe sizing"? @Revtach has made it clear that Sunsong has this sizing problem. And @tylerlinner has had the exact same problem with Napa brand front brake hoses. If there aren't any aftermarket ones that fit correctly, I suppose I'll buy Honda ones.

Thanks!
Bryan
 
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Has anybody found an aftermarket brand of front brake hoses that have the correct "earlobe sizing"? @Revtach has made it clear that Sunsong has this sizing problem. And @tylerlinner has had the exact same problem with Napa brand front brake hoses. If there aren't any aftermarket ones that fit correctly, I suppose I'll buy Honda ones.
I wanted to come back around to this. After doing a lot of research, I realized the core issue with aftermarket front brake hoses for the G1. For some reason Honda has different front brake hoses for the MT vs. CVT. However, when it comes to aftermarket front brakes, it appears that almost all manufacturers are making the CVT hose only. Centric is the only aftermarket vendor (that I found) that appears to correctly recognize that there are different front brake hoses for the MT vs. CVT.

Their MT front hoses are 15040083 and 15040084. Their CVT front hoses are: 15040085 and 15040086.

When I recently redid my brake lines, I bought 15040083 and 15040084 (from Rock Auto) and they bolted up correctly to my manual G1. I hope this will be beneficial for others, going forward.

-Bryan
 
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