4 Piston Brembo Rebuild: Crossover line replacement?

[drj2k1]

Recently picked up a pair of Brembo front calipers off a 2014 Mustang GT that I intend to use on my 2011 Mustang V6 PP. They were local and cheap, so I took a risk on them despite being on a Northeast car with 70k miles. Got a chance to tear them down after work today and surprisingly the pins/hardware came out with little fuss (not the norm with any brake parts that see salt/sand up here). I'm looking to clean up the calipers over the winter before installing this spring and throw in some new hardware from OP Mustang before the next autocross season. After removing the pads I was also happy to see the piston dust boots don't appear to be in too bad shape (pics included below). I've never used anything but traditional sliding calipers, maybe someone with more experience can chime in and let me know if they look like they'll need replacement.

Unfortunately, in my initial inspection I missed that the one of the crossover lines is tweaked/kinked . What are my options to replace this line? Didn't see anything on tasca, rock auto, or anywhere else I could probably have a custom line made locally if necessary, but was wondering if anyone knows of a source for a pre-made replacement?

 

[bob]

If you can't find or buy that line you can make it with the right tools. You have to unbolt it from caliper and see what kind of flare. Get flare tool to match, get bender, get pipe, reuse the fittings. I could make one in about 20 minutes is my guess. This is a track forum. We don't need dust protectors but I would rebuild the calipers with new piston seals. That's a 10 min job if you have the parts.

 

[mwjscn]

I took a dive on the Internet and found a couple of things. The below kit seems like what you need. It doesn't specifically call out the Mustang Brembo brakes, but the Camaro SS, Evo, and STI Brembo offerings are pretty much exactly the same architecture.

OE Caliper Cross-over Tubes For EVO 8-9 front calipers & Viper ACR-E rear calipers

Caliper Cross-over Tubes For EVO 8/9, STi, CamaroSS G5, CTSV V1, Tesla S etc. Front 4 pot Calipers (Price is for 2 Calipers)

racingbrake.com

If you decided to take up Bob's advice, I found someone else online who was in the same position as yourself and decided to make their own crossover lines. That link is below and will hopefully serve as a handy guide should you decide to tackle it. If you don't own the tools, it may come out to be a similar price as just buying the above kit, but you walk away with a new skill.

Repairing Brembo Crossover Line - MustangForums.com

2005-2014 Mustangs - Repairing Brembo Crossover Line - I recently did a Brembo 4-piston caliper upgrade on my car. I got a used set off ebay and for some reason there are a bunch of these up for sale with bent or crushed crossover line. I have a feeling that it scares many people off from buying...

mustangforums.com

Also, while you have the calipers out it really may not hurt to replace the seals. If you're already ordering from OP Mustang, they have some high-temperature seal rebuild kits that may fare better than the stock rubber - especially if you're considering track duty. I know Terry Fair on his S197 writeup blew through quite a few sets of Brembo piston seals before he got his air ducting setup fully developed. It depends on your aspirations and budget, but I personally have a 'while I'm in there...' mentality with some of these things.

 

[drj2k1]

I took a dive on the Internet and found a couple of things. The below kit seems like what you need. It doesn't specifically call out the Mustang Brembo brakes, but the Camaro SS, Evo, and STI Brembo offerings are pretty much exactly the same architecture.

OE Caliper Cross-over Tubes For EVO 8-9 front calipers & Viper ACR-E rear calipers

Caliper Cross-over Tubes For EVO 8/9, STi, CamaroSS G5, CTSV V1, Tesla S etc. Front 4 pot Calipers (Price is for 2 Calipers)

racingbrake.com

If you decided to take up Bob's advice, I found someone else online who was in the same position as yourself and decided to make their own crossover lines. That link is below and will hopefully serve as a handy guide should you decide to tackle it. If you don't own the tools, it may come out to be a similar price as just buying the above kit, but you walk away with a new skill.

Repairing Brembo Crossover Line - MustangForums.com

2005-2014 Mustangs - Repairing Brembo Crossover Line - I recently did a Brembo 4-piston caliper upgrade on my car. I got a used set off ebay and for some reason there are a bunch of these up for sale with bent or crushed crossover line. I have a feeling that it scares many people off from buying...

mustangforums.com

Also, while you have the calipers out it really may not hurt to replace the seals. If you're already ordering from OP Mustang, they have some high-temperature seal rebuild kits that may fare better than the stock rubber - especially if you're considering track duty. I know Terry Fair on his S197 writeup blew through quite a few sets of Brembo piston seals before he got his air ducting setup fully developed. It depends on your aspirations and budget, but I personally have a 'while I'm in there...' mentality with some of these things.

Appreciate the thoughtful insight here. In my searches I also saw the possibility of using the crossover lines from other brembo 4 piston applications on the mustang calipers, although I didn't see any conclusive evidence it worked. Going to get quote for the line the be made locally, otherwise I'll order the supplies/tools to make on myself (maybe little extra tubing for some trial and error lol).

Wound up ordering new seals and hardware from OP mustang, might as well have some peace of mind since they are off the car anyway. Hoping the car doesn't require a ducting setup for autocross speeds, but might invest in the insurance of titanium shims/ducts to avoid the braking problems we experienced this season.

Thanks for the feedback,
J

 

[MrAtkins31]

Brembo Cross over tubes are next to impossible to source. I run Brembo F40/F50 Calipers and ran into the same issue you did. After an extensive search I located another caliper and the owner gladly gave me the cross over tube. With that said I took on the task of rebuilding my calipers and found the project to be easy as long as you follow some work instructions, if using high temp silicone seals keep them free of brake fluid and use only the grease they supply for the inner seal during installation.

Speaking of F40/F50 calipers I did locate a potential supplier for the cross over tubes so if I could get a head count who would want to purchase 1-3 sets I could get the minimum purchase buy and have them in stock for forum members. What I can tell you is that the tubes will be manufactured with a high alloy steel, very strong and allows bends without crimping, each cross over tube will have barrel flairs and 3/8" anodized fitting on each end. While I can guess at the retail prices I will hold off until I hear back from forum members who would be interested in obtaining these units. The potential supplier would like me to purchase a 300 set minimum purchase, but if we were to get close I am confident I can talk them onto taking on the project.

So again anyone here with Brembo F40/F50 4 pot calipers who would like to purchase new quality cross over tubes you can respond to me directly on the forum.

 

[mwjscn]

With Racing Brake having updated their listing adding the GT/GT500 4-pot caliper compatibility for their crossover tube replacement kit, I guess it depends on what the per-unit price would be. Currently they're at $50 for 2, which I'm sure can be made significantly cheaper, but I don't know if 100 people have damaged crossover lines to drive the demand.

Amazon.com: Cross-over tubes for Mitsubishi EVO 8-9, Chevy Camaro SS G5, Cadillac CTS-V (V1), Tesla Model S 12-17, Ford Mustang GT/GT500 07-12 Front Calipers & Dodge Viper ACRE 16+ Rear Calipers : Automotive

Buy Cross-over tubes for Mitsubishi EVO 8-9, Chevy Camaro SS G5, Cadillac CTS-V (V1), Tesla Model S 12-17, Ford Mustang GT/GT500 07-12 Front Calipers & Dodge Viper ACRE 16+ Rear Calipers: Automotive - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

OE Caliper Cross-over Tubes For EVO 8-9 front calipers & Viper ACR-E rear calipers

Caliper Cross-over Tubes For EVO 8/9, STi, CamaroSS G5, CTSV V1, Tesla S etc. Front 4 pot Calipers (Price is for 2 Calipers)

racingbrake.com

 

[MrAtkins31]

The Racing Brake cross over tube listing you speak of do not work on F40/F50 calipers, I already tried that route and just finished the process of returning them to Amazon.

Also when making your own, keep in mind the tooling to make a barrel flair which is two flairs, small one under the main flair.

 

[mwjscn]

In what regard did they not work? The 4-piston Brembo caliper used on Mustang/GT500 is very widely used by many marques, so I'd be surprised if there are dimensional/thread differences between the ones provided to the various manufacturers (especially for simplicity of manufacture on Brembo's part). What did RB have for a response?

 

[MrAtkins31]

In what regard did they not work? The 4-piston Brembo caliper used on Mustang/GT500 is very widely used by many marques, so I'd be surprised if there are dimensional/thread differences between the ones provided to the various manufacturers (especially for simplicity of manufacture on Brembo's part). What did RB have for a response?

In what regard did they not work? The 4-piston Brembo caliper used on Mustang/GT500 is very widely used by many marques, so I'd be surprised if there are dimensional/thread differences between the ones provided to the various manufacturers (especially for simplicity of manufacture on Brembo's part). What did RB have for a response?

They were too short, meaning the fittings did not meet end to end, the overall design was not symmetrical as you can see in the picture which helps tuck the cross over tube into the caliper to avoid damage from road debris.

RB Brake was surprised and very helpful, we went through about six versions to no avail. RB makes quality product hence why I bought their rebuild kit. You would think uniformity but in my case no, my units required what you see in the pics, if anyone runs these calipers and needs a cross over tube they will run into what was an exhausting search to keep the caliper as it was originally built.

 

[mwjscn]

Ah, I see your caliper is an entirely different model, so I'm not entirely surprised that the RB solution for the different OEM version of the Brembos didn't work (doing more digging, they seem to have different line shapes). Good luck on your search! Good news is that if you can't locate enough people to fund the larger production run, they're fairly easy to make provided you have a flaring tool at your disposal.