Wilwood rear discs - hardlines and e-brake cable

[j-rho]

I bought this kit:
http://www.wilwood.com/BrakeKits/BrakeKitsProdRear.aspx?itemno=140-7141

Which fits a 12-bolt perfectly. The problem I'm having presently are twofold:
One, the rear brake hydraulic hard lines I bought (re-doing all hardlines) thread into the calipers fine, but seem to "bottom out" in the caliper, before the line itself is snugged. Almost like the threaded portion on the hard line needs more threaded length. Is this common with normal factory hard lines? Is there some sort of adapter I was supposed to have bought? If not, is there a replacement hardline known to work with these calipers? I get the feeling if I put brake fluid in now, it'll just be a leaky mess.

Second, what's the trick to making the e-brake work with this kit? It has the internal drum mechanism, but the method of cable attachment is different from stock. Does Wilwood make an alternative rear section or attachment?

Thanks for the help!

[dontlifttoshift]

The thread in the caliper is 1/8" npt. Unless you have an adapter fitting (1/8npt x 3/16 inverted flare) in there it will never tighten up.

The ebrake, given the nature of your build I am surprised you bought a brake kit with an e brake. You can fab a clevis to hook up to your stock cable and "hook" the wilwood arm or go to Lokar cable. www.controlcables.com can custom build cables in any length with any ends and then you can easily hook up to your existing intermediate cable.

[dipren443]

I bought this kit:
http://www.wilwood.com/BrakeKits/BrakeKitsProdRear.aspx?itemno=140-7141

Which fits a 12-bolt perfectly. The problem I'm having presently are twofold:
One, the rear brake hydraulic hard lines I bought (re-doing all hardlines) thread into the calipers fine, but seem to "bottom out" in the caliper, before the line itself is snugged. Almost like the threaded portion on the hard line needs more threaded length. Is this common with normal factory hard lines? Is there some sort of adapter I was supposed to have bought? If not, is there a replacement hardline known to work with these calipers? I get the feeling if I put brake fluid in now, it'll just be a leaky mess.

Second, what's the trick to making the e-brake work with this kit? It has the internal drum mechanism, but the method of cable attachment is different from stock. Does Wilwood make an alternative rear section or attachment?

Thanks for the help!

You are running hard lines all the way to the caliper? I think it is much better to terminate the hardline a short distance away from the caliper and then run a flex line. It will make servicing the brakes down the road a hell of a lot easier.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/11/DSC_8961JPG-1.jpg

[dontlifttoshift]

I disagree with that. When ever I have a fixed caliper to the rear end I will run hardlines right to it. The only exceptions will be when it is easier to drop a flex line from each frame rail and keep the crossover line on the car, or in the case of your floating calipers I would drop a flexline on each side. When adding a flexline at each caliper plus a flexline from the axle to body/frame it is easy to exceed my self imposed limit of 36" of flexible line in the entire car, front and rear.

As far as servicing the caliper, the only reason it needs to be removed is in the case of a caliper failure. Pads on a Wiwood slide right out the back.

[j-rho]

The ebrake, given the nature of your build I am surprised you bought a brake kit with an e brake. Rules state e-brake functionality has to be retained. Surprised Wilwood doesn't retail an adapter solution themselves? Seems to be a big piece missing from this being a complete solution.

Didn't the factory run hardlines all the way to the brakes? I don't think it'll be to much of a servicing problem - the Wilwoods can be bled, and the pads changed, without undoing the caliper. Only reason to unhook the line would be for caliper removal for a full rebuild, which shouldn't happen often, if ever.

[dipren443]

I disagree with that. When ever I have a fixed caliper to the rear end I will run hardlines right to it. The only exceptions will be when it is easier to drop a flex line from each frame rail and keep the crossover line on the car, or in the case of your floating calipers I would drop a flexline on each side. When adding a flexline at each caliper plus a flexline from the axle to body/frame it is easy to exceed my self imposed limit of 36" of flexible line in the entire car, front and rear.

As far as servicing the caliper, the only reason it needs to be removed is in the case of a caliper failure. Pads on a Wiwood slide right out the back.

I guess we will just agree to disagree. Means you also have to break your hard lines to swap rotors.

[dontlifttoshift]

That's true and is a great point. In that case I would drop one line at each wheel and skip the flexline between the rear end and body. For me opening lines for rotor service is a non issue as I firmly believe in flushing/bleeding the brakes at least once a year......in extreme use before every event.

[67rally]

Second, what's the trick to making the e-brake work with this kit? It has the internal drum mechanism, but the method of cable attachment is different from stock. Does Wilwood make an alternative rear section or attachment?

Thanks for the help!

I used the Lokar e-brake cable for my setup. You want the one with the Ford Explorer clevis. Originally I was just going to buy the clevis and modify it to fit with the stock e-brake cables, but the Lokar setup is a lot cleaner.

I posted a bunch of pics here: https://www.pro-touring.com/showthread.php?93611-What-parking-brake-cable-kit-to-use-with-Wilwood-rear-disc-brakes

[j-rho]

These are the rear hardlines I purchased:
http://www.getdiscbrakes.com/fra6702

After some further research, looks like I do need some adapters:
http://www.wilwood.com/m/techtip/TechFaqAnswer.aspx?id=11&no=1
" A 3/16” solid line will use 3/8-24 flare nuts to make a connection, and can be connected to a Wilwood caliper by installing 1/8-27 NPT to 3/8-24 IF adapters into the calipers. "

Oopsie, I already tried threading my 3/8"-24 into the 1/8"-27 NPT, might have boogered a caliper in having done so. Darn.

...

67Rally, your e-brake cable setup looks nice, but it sure looks like a lot of work. Maybe there's a way to adapt the Explorer-style clevis at the end of a line setup that is otherwise stock?

[dontlifttoshift]

Your calipers will be fine......I have seen this done so many times.

[67rally]

67Rally, your e-brake cable setup looks nice, but it sure looks like a lot of work. Maybe there's a way to adapt the Explorer-style clevis at the end of a line setup that is otherwise stock?

Did you install the brakes yourself? It took me an afternoon to do the e-brake setup, and that's because it was in a small garage on jack stands. It was pretty straight forward.

Like I said, you could just buy the Ford Explorer clevis and modify it to work with your existing stock style cable. You might need to buy a slightly longer rear cable, but I think it's doable. This is how I was going to modify the clevis. The stock one is on the left. My version is on the right. I would have notched it so the stock cable would slide into it, but couldn't come out once the cable was under tension:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2012/11/modifiedclevis-1.jpg

[MCB Matt]

Wilwood does have an E-Brake cable kit.

Matt