Winter is slow exiting the stage here in the Maryland/DC/Virginia area, but this past weekend was a bit warmer, so I turned my attention back to addressing some of the remaining items for my brake upgrade on my XK Coupe. By 'brake upgrade', I'm attempting to get a bit firmer brake pedal feel, and am not attempting a swap for Brembos, or any other higher performance brake calipers...at this time...

Last Fall, I purchased and installed new slotted, cross-drilled, vented rotors and ceramic compound brake pads. I drove my car a bit before tucking it away for the Winter, and the only thing I really noticed was a reduction in the amount and color of the brake dust on the alloys.

Once in the garage for the Winter, I put the rear of the car up on jackstands, removed both rear brake calipers, and proceeded with rebuilding them. I dis-assembled each caliper, washed them in my parts washer, glass bead blasted the mounting brackets and caliper bodies, painted them with Por-15 silver caliper paint, replaced the rubber seals and lubed the caliper pistons with Sil-Glyde paste, and put everything back together. As a small personalization touch, I took the opportunity to fill in the word 'JAGUAR' on each caliper body with green paint before re-installing them back on the car.

I ordered a set of high performance brake lines while I was prepping the calipers. I ordered a set of Goodridge Stainless Braided brake lines to replace the factory rubber hoses. The Goodridge part number is: SJA1050-4P-CF. As others have noted previously on this forum, the Goodridge brake hoses that are available in the U.S. market are not the same, and don't fit quite as well as the ones for the European market. This set of hoses are labeled as being for "JAGUAR XK8/XKR 2003 ONWARDS". So I ordered the set from a UK parts supplier, which came to $128.00 with shipping. The hose set comes with two new bolts for the rear caliper banjo fittings, as well as new copper crush washers. As has also been previously noted here on the forum, where these Goodridge brake hoses attach to the brake hard line, the end of the hose has its 'flat side' opposite where the factory rubber hose has it, making insertion of the hose end through the on-body mounting bracket a chore. The Goodridge lines are fairly stiff, and don't allow for any twisting or severe bending once you have the banjo fitting end attached to the caliper correctly. Your choices are to either file the opposite side of the new brake hose end to create a flat spot that will line up with the flat side in the on-body mounting bracket, or you can grind or file away the flat spot on the on-body mounting bracket, and insert the hose with the retaining clip and have a nice day. I hooked up my air die grinder with a rotary rasp bit and ground both of the flat spots away on the on-body mounting brackets. Took less than a minute to grind smooth each on-body mounting bracket. I wasn't about to risk buggering up my new brake hoses with trying to create another flat side to accomodate the on-body mounting bracket. As always, your car, your call. When all was said and done, a very nice set of hoses, from a fit and finish perspective, and they are DOT and TUV approved.

Before I connected my pristine rebuilt calipers and new brake hoses to the brake hard lines, I finished bleeding out any of the remaining old brake fluid that was still in the hard lines from the brake master cylinder reservoir back. I decided to use Ate's 'Super Blue' Racing brake fluid for the changeover. I've used the Ate 'Super Blue' in all of my Porsches and track cars, and the stuff just works, especially at high track temperatures where you're working the brakes to the max. One word of caution though...DOT/NHTSA have seen fit to try and regulate away stupidity, and have placed a ban on the Ate 'Super Blue' brake fluid for any vehicle, save for off-road use. Apparently, there were too many instances where something other than brake fluid was added to the brake master cylinder reservoir, when it was observed to be holding a 'blue fluid', say, like windshield washer fluid. Anyway, DOT/NHTSA only recognizes amber color brake fluids as being acceptable, to minimize the chance of something other than brake fluid being added to the brake reservoir. I obtained two liters of the Ate 'Super Blue' Racing brake fluid from a racing parts supplier.

Once I observed a steady flow of blue brake fluid coming from the hard lines in the rear, I connected up the new hoses, and bled both rear calipers. I popped the wheels back on, lowered the car from the jackstands, and took her out for a brisk cruise on some of the wonderful country roads in the area (now that a lot of the chemicals and salt have been washed away). Brake pedal is a bit firmer, but will have to wait until I tear into the fronts before I can say if it's all been a worthwhile endeavor. Even if not, I still have the peace of mind knowing that when all is done, I'll have a brand new set of brakes and hoses at all four corners of my toy, and the satisfaction of a job well done, and that's worth something.

 

Thanks for the pictorial. Looks like a job well done, and yes that is worth a lot.

 

Very nice work. Great write up too.

I sure which I had a bead blaster in my garage. I am jealous.

 

is the cover rubber or stainless braid?

regarding the flat location, you would think that they would have corrected a known problem since it is a matter of orienting the part to suit rather than changing a part

 

Brake hose covering is a heavy vinyl material over the stainless steel braid. I believe the supplier offers the hose coverings in several different colors. I just stuck with basic black. The hoses appear to be well made, and everything fit just fine, with the noted exception of the position of the hose end 'flat side'. Here's the link to the Goodridge website where I ordered the brake lines: Goodridge Braided Brake Lines,hoses and fittings,Motorcycle Brake line Kits - Goodridge Brake Lines Hose UK Shop

On a cautionary note, the 'flat side' of the brake hose end that connects to the brake hard line on the car, was designed that way to minimize any potential twisting of the flexible hose where it attaches to the hard line, by virtue of being held stationary by the matching flat spot in the on-body bracket. In theory, my grinding away the flat side of the hole in the on-body mounting bracket will now allow some flex to be introduced at the hard line/brake hose interface, which could result in twsiting of the brake hard line, if the new brake hose twists as a result of the suspension moving. I'm not too concerned about that prospect, as the new brake hoses are fairly stiff, and the amount of flexing should be minimal, if any at all. I'll certainly keep an eye on things like that, as I perform routine maintenance down the road.

 

I talked to the Goodridge rep who was helping me with my Brembo conversion, he said you could make one adjustment in one direction of the brake line indexing. I did this after I had forced my lines on the car with a bit of a twist in them. I used a small vise-grip to rotate the hose at the fitting until the twist was gone.

 

Rothwell,

The bead blast cabinet, my MIG welder and my air compressor are three of the best investments I've made over the years, to enable me to restore the cars that have come and gone through my garage. I couldn't have done it as easily without them.

 

Interesting, I never gave a thought to the possibility that one of the end fittings could be rotated into a better position. I just assumed that everything was crimped on and that it wasn't meant to budge. Thinking about it now, makes perfect sense that you should be able to rotate one of the ends a full 360 degrees without creating any loss of integrity or potential fluid leakage from the inner tubing. Chalk that one up as a lesson learned. Thanks!

I did look at possibly flipping the banjo fitting end of the brake line 180 degrees where it attaches to the caliper body. This would've placed the other end of the hose in a better position with regard to the flat side aligning better with the on-body bracket, but the bend in the brake hose banjo end fitting would not be pointing in a direction that would've allowed the other end to align and attach to the brake hard line. Ideally, if the manufacturer of the Goodridge rear hoses made the banjo fitting end of the hose come straight out alonside the caliper mounting point, instead of exiting as an angled rigid section of metal tubing before the flexible portion of the hose began, the hose could've been flipped over 180 degrees, and the flat spot end would've lined up much better with the unaltered on-body bracket.

 

Finally found the time (and the outside temperature was considerably warmer than it had been of late) to finish my brake upgade project. I dis-assembled and cleaned the front brake calipers, glass bead-blasted the caliper bodies and mounting brackets, painted them with Por-15 caliper paint, re-assembled the calipers and re-installed the ceramic brake pads, attached the new Goodridge flex hoses, bled the calipers, and took her out for a test spin. As a precoutionary measure, I removed the plastic spring from the old factory rubber hoses, and slipped it onto the new Goodridge lines, to prevent any possible chaffing from contact with the front shock absorbers and any other suspension components. All in all, very satisfied with the outcome. Yes, I couldn't resist filling in the 'Jaguar' lettering on the caliper body with some green enamel.

While I was at it, I removed the wheel well liners and cleaned out the debris that had accumulated from the previous owner's years of driving. Removing the liners also gave me free and clear access to the hard brake line/new brake hose union, to insure a clean and tidy coupling of the two. Found quite a bit of stuff behind the liners on the rearward side of the wheel wells. Loosened up the sediment and vacuumed everything out. Should prevent any moisture from collecting there now and working its insidious magic on the inside of the fender and rocker areas.

What to do next...

 

Any difference in brake pedal feel?

 

Mike,

To be honest about it, I'd have to say not a whole heckuva' lot of difference in pedal feel. I'd also have to say that I drive the car so infrequently, that I barely remember what the pedal feel was like before I embarked upon this little project.

I guess my takeaway is that, I know that I've got up-to-snuff stoppers at all four corners now, and new brake fluid in the system, and that's a good thing.

I'm afflicted with a condition that, if I'm not tinkering with my cars, I tend to get bored with them and get rid of them (which I seem to do with some regularity). Drives my wife nuts when I have a perfectly good car that doesn't require much, if any, work, and I sell it and move on to the next project. Hey, could be worse, I could own a plane or a boat!

 

Your list of cars is insane! If they were boats you would have lost $$$$$$ on each of them......
Did Ferrari make a short wheelbase version of the 330GTC? Wrong forum, but how was it to own and drive?

 

And there's probably a few that have escaped my memory by now...lol! Fortunately, I was content to have friends and acquaintances who owned boats and planes, and allowed me to crew for them. Guess that kept that urge in check.

The Ferrari's engine was intimidating, with 12 cylinders to keep happy. For a 2+2, it was a really smooth and comfortable GT car. I let it go because I could just see my bank account getting ready to hemorrhage when it came time for a major service. With the steady rise in prices of most of Enzo's creations, in hindsight, that's the one I should've hung on to for retirement.

Still time and cars left on my 'bucket list'...just don't tell my wife...

 

Can you expand on this please. I am installing my Goodridge lines this weekend. Are you stating that you rotated the fitting at the car mount end either clockwise or counter clockwise to take out the twist? Where did you attach the vise-grip? Please and thanks

 

I'll be doing that same and came across this link for sourcing the parts/lines.
I'd read another post about the flat spot and grinding, this was good info here on being able to 'rotate' the fitting for alignment. I think I understand what he's saying but a renewed explanation would be great. Be ordering these up later today, I'll prob go with a color as well for some detail.

Edit: looking at this site above I don't see pre 2003 XK(r) lines, a email will be required to see if they are supported.

 

Here is who I purchased them from,. They make them specific to your rided.

Rebecca Hoyle
European Sales Manager

QPS
11 Market Street
Disley, Stockport
SK12 2AA
United Kingdom
Tel: 02392 005108