E30 Zone

hi guys, brake line busted last night just by the rear passenger door.
can anyone post me a description or a diagram of the route it takes please, i dont have a ramp or anythnig to get under to find out. and every garage i can get hold of today wants to know if it goes up over the petrol tank!

I believe it doesnt go over the petrol tank on the E30, the reason garages are asking this is because it does go this way on the E36 and most mechanics have bad memories of doing the job on one!

My 316i needs brake pipe overhaul before its MOT and although it's not something I'm looking forward to very much - I think it's the flexible lines that are the problem on the E30, but I'd also be interested to see a brake pipe routing picture or similar myself!

hairypete have a look at the ETK (REALOEM) site near top of technical page. Should show you mate.hth.

wow!!!!! its like an argos catalogue for bits!!!! i have found mecca!!!!! your an utter legend and i thankyou sir!!!!

Dont thank me mate, thank the fellow who made it a sticky. Actually just had a quick look and dont think it answers your routing question ,still handy though.

well i figure i just need the pipe that goes from the front to the back, and then i can offer it up and figure it out from there. i am of course assuming it will come ready formed from bmw, actually i am preying it will come ready made up!


god i love this site!!!

BMW brake pipes dont come preformed so are best left alone. If your car has copper brake lines they have been changed before. Strange that you have a leak ? . Most brake pipes at the rear involve lots of language and aggro. You can buy 'joiner' pieces which enable you to cut the pipe at the leak and join the two good bits together, might be worth investigating if the rest of the pipe looks good and you don't want open up a can of worms !

ok they dont come preformed.... denied!!! i think they are the original pipes on there, but my entire reservoir was empty within 4 or 5 minutes from when the peddal went spongy!
i had had to deploy anchors rather hard due to a dozy cow overtakin a bus on a blind bend with me comin the other way at about 90 odd !!!
after that me peddle just went. which i didnt notice till i had to brake for the next corner lmfao !!! brown trousers all round.

when i finally nursed it back to the drive i looked round the back and fluid was sprayed all over the underside by the back passenger door and drippin everywhere.

You don't need 'joiners' to join brake pipes. You use a male end on one pipe, a female end on the other, put a single flare on one pipe, and a double flare on the other.

I've just had a set made up from Automec using the ETK drawings. They now do a complete set for e30's now!

where are automech based? why do i get a feeling they are nowhere near stafford!!! lol,

well my dad bless him has gone and bought a brake pipe kit so i have all the things to do the job just no ramp. so thanks for all your help guys, will be sortin it next week when i get some time, my dad and tools all in the same place!

hearty thanks,

oh and its a 318i touring with a 2.5 engine installed and runnin well apart from the brakes if anyone is interested its yours for 1200 notes!

Brianmoooore wrote:You don't need 'joiners' to join brake pipes. You use a male end on one pipe, a female end on the other, put a single flare on one pipe, and a double flare on the other.

Only if you really want to change an entire brake line. Not everyone wants to do that.

Andyboy wrote:

Brianmoooore wrote:You don't need 'joiners' to join brake pipes. You use a male end on one pipe, a female end on the other, put a single flare on one pipe, and a double flare on the other.

Only if you really want to change an entire brake line. Not everyone wants to do that.

just change the whole pipe, its actually easier, particullaly the n/s/r its only bout a foot long! anything else is just bodging it up!

murran wrote:

Andyboy wrote:

Brianmoooore wrote:You don't need 'joiners' to join brake pipes. You use a male end on one pipe, a female end on the other, put a single flare on one pipe, and a double flare on the other.

Only if you really want to change an entire brake line. Not everyone wants to do that.

just change the whole pipe, its actually easier, particullaly the n/s/r its only bout a foot long! anything else is just bodging it up!

Wouldn't dream of replacing just part of a pipe from the tee piece onwards, but I have, on occasions, just replaced the part of the front to rear line that goes up around the fuel filter (6 pot) area.