Can somebody help tell me what I have going on with my brake plumbing?

[tommott77]

So I get a new (old) Z V8 project. This car is appears to be a couple decade old Nordskog V8 conversion that has sat in storage for about 8 years. Spent a couple hours the last couple days sorting through some horribly 'rigged' up wiring to get her to run (almost blew up two batteries along the way), and then curing the car's attempted "Up in smoke" fire hazard of an impersonation due to several layers of ancient decrepit header wrap, tin foil, and aluminum held on with hose clamps on the headers and exhaust. Now please bear with as this is the first Z I have ever layed a wrench to...well that was a bit of a fib but you get the picture.

 

Now I'm onto the brakes. Feels like I may have some seized calipers as the 2300lb car does not budge when I try to push her by hand. I'll jack her up tomorrow and go corner to corner to see what is free and try to solicit a friend to help do some bleeding. In the interim I started inspecting things from the top as I have not had a chance to get the car in the air as of yet. Found something quite alarming (illustrated in the first pic). Anybody have any idea what I have going on here? The second picture shows where the line runs (illustrated in red). It seems to run congruently with the line that goes to the back of the car. From comparing with some online pictures and the service manual that came with the car it seems that 'Z's only have one hard line running aft section of the car so I'm a bit confused. I am assuming that the line is plugged and/or capped as the car seems to be holding fluid and the pedal still has pressure. Also there are no signs/remnants of another end of the line where that one would mate up to. It also appears that for some reason I have two warning light switches.

 

After the brake issue is resolved I will move on to finding where the line out of the clutch slave cylinder (in illustration 3) meets up with the T5 transmission. No signs of anything in the engine bay so it must be further back in/under the transmission tunnel, and then she should drive, and then, and then, and then...........

Edited July 27, 2011 by tommott77

[beermanpete]

It looks like the line for the vapor recovory system. My '73 has a line in the same place. It connects the fuel vapor/liquid separator tank in the rear to the crankcase or charcoal canistor (depending on year). It seems that this line has been abandoned in yout car.

[rags]

Or is that the clutch line?? Dos the car have a working clutch? From the picture, it seems to be missing a slave cylinder as well.

[GrtRat1]

Looks like a rear break line.. It goes to the perportioning(sp?)valve

 

Looks like they cut it and crimped it so they could power breake easier..

Edited July 27, 2011 by GrtRat1

[tommott77]

Or is that the clutch line?? Dos the car have a working clutch? From the picture, it seems to be missing a slave cylinder as well.

 

There is one melted slave cylinder in the trunk of the car. Undoubtedly a casualty of the pyrotechnic exhaust system. The seller confirmed that the line is indeed plugged, but didn't say what it used to be. I would have to say that it is some sort of brake line seeing that it runs parallel to the current rear brake line. The only thing I can think of is that somebody re-ran the rear brake line, but for some reason kept the old line in there.

[Miles]

You don't state what year your Z is which helps when diagnosing problems.

 

I'll assume that you own a 72 model. On the 240Z there were fuel supply and a fuel return lines on the passenger side. The fuel return line ran from near the fuel pump back to the fuel tank. The fuel supply line ran from the tank to the fuel pump.

 

That cut line on the passenger side in the middle picture may be either the return line or the fuel line. My guess it is the fuel line and the return line has been removed.

 

On the driver's side there was a fuel vapor line that connected back to the vapor recovery tank located next to the filler hose. The line was connected to the intake manifold which sucked the fumes out of the system when the engine was running. The vapor return line appears to be missing in your pictures.

 

The front and rear brake lines in the middle picture appear to be intact. The lines appear to run correctly from the brake MC down to the brake switch (safety device). From the brake switch your brake lines appear to run correctly to the front and rear brakes.

 

I can't imagine anyone being stupid enough to cut and crimp a brake line.

 

The Haynes manual for the 240Z shows all of the lines in question.

 

If you haven't already done so, put the car on jack stands and trace each fuel and brake line.

Edited July 29, 2011 by Miles

[Nigel]

You have a '73 or later Z, but the middle picture is from an earlier Z (confused me at first because you make it sound like it's from your car), and/or one that someone has rerouted the brake lines on, so you can't use that as a comparison.

 

'73 and later Z have the proportioning valve mounted to the firewall, and it uses brake pressure to the front right caliper to modulate pressure to the rear brakes. It is not a warning light switch. The brake warning light switch is mounted to the driver's side inner fender.

 

It's hard to tell from your pictures, but there should be a third line running from the clutch master on the driver's side, across the firewall to the passenger side. Looks like it's there but cut? Or as other's have mentioned, it's an evap emissions line and the car started out as an automatic? Hard to say without further investigation.

 

Nigel

Edited July 29, 2011 by Nigel

[beermanpete]

I went and looked at my '73. There are 4 lines running across the firewall. From top to bottom they are: clutch, right front brake, rear brake, and vapor recovery. Tommott77's photos look exactly the same as my car (except my vapor line is not cut and crimped.)

 

I maintain that the line Tom is concerned about is an abandoned vapor recovery line.

 

Tom, you will need to inspect your car and verify where the line goes to to be sure, but I suspect you will find the other end near the fuel filler neck and in the same condition as the line in your photo.