Technical Replacement (Flexi) Brake Pipes

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Technical Replacement (Flexi) Brake Pipes

Red Van Man

My Fiorino's a Qubo..
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In the days of my Smart car (waaaay behind me :) ) I read for the first time about fitting SS braided front flexi-pipes and then discovering *coloured* pipes :cool:

Well having chased through the search facility on here and reading about a chap whose 20 yr old Fiat sprang a leak as he drove his kids to school or somewhere, the pipe had been rubbing on a wheel arch.. Why don't manufacturers fit braided pipes to begin with (or those with the 'spring' coily protector) when they build the cars? To state it's a cost issue can't be right as they fleece you £40 for a set of mass-produced rubber mudflaps and carpets at the same price which if you were fitting out a lounge would remove about £4000 from your wallet based on the same £/sq.metre. They make money, no question. Since many cars are now sold on safety with airbags everywhere, ABS, ESP (still not std on a van despite the fa-moose video!!! :mad: ) wouldn't you think the anchors would be setup from the outset with the best available pipes or at least ones that would withstand the stuff which gets thrown up from the ground onto them on a daily basis?

Anyway - whatever they come with, how do drivers feel about fitting those mentioned above to their vans? It's said that an after-market (quality) flexi-pipe gives the driver a firmer feel underfoot and that set above is £69 for a set of four and in a choice of eighteen colours!

One last thing - is Luigi wearing after-market calipers on the front? Or did you just employ a steady hand and some red paint.. ;)

R-V-M
 
Agreed with that about the brake hose.its must be a cost issue as no doubt the standard hose are pennies compared to flexi.ive got some brembo four pots I'm going to custom fit to mines along with some 305mm discs.just waiting on my spare hub coming through so I can make some bracket up in wood before sending off to the machinist.
 
Agreed with that about the brake hose.its must be a cost issue as no doubt the standard hose are pennies compared to flexi.ive got some brembo four pots I'm going to custom fit to mines along with some 305mm discs.just waiting on my spare hub coming through so I can make some bracket up in wood before sending off to the machinist.

Can you do some before and after pics please - the old calipers (on the van), the new (on the bench) plus your mock-ups too and a fitting/exchange procedure....and your sources for the bits maybe? All good info and interesting reading (y)

Would your engineer for the new discs be interested in doing more than one set? I bet Luigi would like some. What size are the existing discs and what's your reason for the change?

R-V-M

I suppose I should ask - what car are the front brakes taken from for the Fiorino? I imagine they are 100% compatible with another Fiat (not just the Qubo as that doesn't often qualify for being tweaked I guess :) )
 
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Can you do some before and after pics please - the old calipers (on the van), the new (on the bench) plus your mock-ups too and a fitting/exchange procedure....and your sources for the bits maybe? All good info and interesting reading (y)

Would your engineer for the new discs be interested in doing more than one set? I bet Luigi would like some. What size are the existing discs and what's your reason for the change?

R-V-M

I suppose I should ask - what car are the front brakes taken from for the Fiorino? I imagine they are 100% compatible with another Fiat (not just the Qubo as that doesn't often qualify for being tweaked I guess :) )


Yeh I will take pics as I go along.wont give to much away just now but if I'm right then it should be pretty straight apart from the caliper bracket but local machine shop should knock them up no problem.
Reason for change is purely on looks with the added bonus of stopping better.always had brembos or ap racing on my ford rs as I love the look of a big set of stoppers.
 
Re: Replacement Discs and Calipers

Yeh I will take pics as I go along.wont give to much away just now but if I'm right then it should be pretty straight apart from the caliper bracket but local machine shop should knock them up no problem.
Reason for change is purely on looks with the added bonus of stopping better.always had brembos or ap racing on my ford rs as I love the look of a big set of stoppers.

I had a Rover 80 (the P4) for my second car and that had big calipers with 2 pistons. They got corroded eventually due to them getting more exposed as the pads wore so road muck/salt etc. got at the chrome and pitted them. The car was a 1959 model and I had it in 1974 so many years old and had had a lot of use.

Now we come to modern cars which have just ONE piston! I can see how it works, drawing the opposite pad into contact with the disc but a system relying on one working to operate the other (to save costs I would imagine) is (to me) somewhat of a short-cut and that with your anchors too - upon which you rely quite a lot.

Looking at the Brembo site, I see you can buy 2, 4 or even 6 piston calipers! If I'm going to upgrade then I would perhaps get 4-pistons. Nice even pressure on the pad all over the rear surface and I presume one has to buy a disc that matches the caliper? The disc size which comes with the CM van is 284mm (257mm on the manual) and the upgrades specified for the Grande Punto (assuming this is the running gear on the Fiorino) are 305mm for the 1-piece and 313mm for the 2-piece.

They state:
All the discs of the Sport range are zinc plated, which improves corrosion resistance and also gives the car a more aggressive look.
In spite of their exclusive characteristics, the Brembo Sport discs are the same size as the original equipment components, are fully compatible with the standard calipers, wheels and other components of the vehicle, and are also simple to install. However, all high performance Brembo discs are more durable and offer greater comfort if used in conjunction with the appropriate Brembo pads.

So now I read that they match the OEM standard, maybe I ought to look at the upgrade for the Fiat 500 which has a disc size of 285mm - just 1mm bigger which might make a lot of difference against a 305mm disc inside the same wheel.
Here's the link to Brembo and then the tables.

R-V-M
 
The hubs on the fiorino are not the same as grande punto as you might think, the pdc is the giveaway as the grande punto is 100 pdc and the fiorino is 98.
Luigi

I'm glad about that as the prices for the two sets for the GP are £1,113 for the 305mm disc and £1,956 for the 313mm disc! :eek:
Those prices are plus postage vat (and fitting unless you did your own of course..)

The 500 is a 4-lug wheel and has a quoted-for set (I don't have prices) but then, you use the wheels from a Stilo, sharing the same PCD - so which rolling gear is on the Fiorino/Qubo machine?

R-V-M
 
Agreed with that about the brake hose.its must be a cost issue as no doubt the standard hose are pennies compared to flexi.ive got some brembo four pots I'm going to custom fit to mines along with some 305mm discs.just waiting on my spare hub coming through so I can make some bracket up in wood before sending off to the machinist.

Did you fit the Brembos before you sold the van to Tokheim and did you take any pics? Also now you're without that Fiorino, what's your current steed?

Paul
 
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