s5 brake upgrade confusion - hardlines needed?
 

i've got a 91 n/a that's got the single piston brakes up front and i'm looking to upgrade them to the 4 pot calipers.

in my searching, some people say i need the hardlines that go between the caliper and the brake lines. others say the calipers are bolt-on, no additional hardware needed.

thanks!
john

what you need are the calipers and the hardlines that are connected to them.

single piston brake lines are a long piece of rubber line. four piston brake lines have 2 short pieces: 1 rubber line for half of it, and one metal hard line on the caliper end (both lines connect to form a line the length of the single piston line). when you get the 4 piston brakes make sure you grab those hardlines as well. as for putting them on, yes its just a bolt up situation.

I'm planning to do the same thing. I have an SE RX7, will i need to change the master cylinder when i change the piston??

couldn't you just use the single piston line? As since it should be long enough to reach it would eliminate the problem of attaching another line. I mean couldn't you do it this way or is the flare different, I doubt it, but wanted to confirm.

thanks
rip

No '91 came from the factory with single piston front calipers.

??? thats not what the original poster said.

the "coupe" model did not come standard with the 4-piston calipers and vented rear disc. HOWEVER it was available as part of an options package.

anyways, i haven't tried it but the rubber line and hard line flare fitting looks to be different, that's why you need the hard line...

Oops...I very vaguely remember something like that now. My bad!

i just recently finished doing the same upgrade on my '89 GTU. bingoboy is correct, you need the calipers and the hardline that connects to them. for the flex line, i would reccomend upgrading to braided stainless while your there(since youll have to bleed anyways)mine worked out quite well, and there is a noticable difference in stopping power :bigthumb:

hmmm... thats weird why would they swap brake flaring

You will need the hardlines. The master cynlinder for is the same for the single piston and 4 piston calipers except for turbo models which are different. Check your cars FSM and it will show what is used in each model.

you are correct here if anyone in the future wants to know you must get the metal lines. The brake flare is completely different. I just took a trip to the junk yard to confirm it.