MM stainless rear brake line install write-up

phil a

Active Member
Established Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2006
Messages
241
Location
Toledo, OH
Hi

Figured I’d make a post showing the install process of Maximum Motorsports SS rear brake hose install because I wasn’t able to find one - might be helpful to anyone looking to do this.

C65E2CC4-44FF-4648-8D22-6598AB44BC9D.jpeg


2003 Cobra IRS: was needing more clearance to run a smaller/diameter wheel (Weld RTS). The e-brake, banjo bolt, and brake hose fitting had been ground by prior owner to fit a 15” wheel, but the RTS was a tad wider at 10.3” vs the 15x10 Weldstar that had been on before, necessitating a bit of clearancing in the inboard side of the car.

It’d been a bit of a saga.....I’d tried to run Weld Prostars in 15x9/5.5” backspace but learned the hard way that the wheels were a bit out-of-round, as the minimal clearance between knuckle and wheel ended up scoring deep grooves in the wheels and ruined them. Decided on the RTS as I learned they had a bit more clearance on their barrel by design.

Now I looked for 15x9/5.5 again but there was literally one available in the country, with backorder until mid-July....and I didn’t have the patience to wait! The wheels I went with are 15x10.3” w/ 6.5” of backspace. I knew that it’d be cutting it close in terms of clearance with the brake parts, but figured I could go with the MM kit if all else failed.

I ended up mocking up one wheel and quickly realized that there would be a good amount of interference inboard, and given that the brake parts had been ground previously, figured I’d err on the side of caution and just go with the low-profile SS hoses. The part # is: MMBK9R and I ended up ordering from LMR from this link: Maximum Motorsports Mustang Rear Stainless Steel Brake Hose Kit (99-04) Cobra MMBK9R
Fast/free shipping and no CA sales tax made the deal even sweeter

The packaging included a good write-up with black-and-white pictures, which I found to be helpful as a reference along the way. I thought it was great that they included rubber caps to put over the hard lines after taking off the stock hoses to keep the master cylinder from running dry....I’d read enough horror stories about the Cobra ABS headaches if this happens to be a bit anxious during this process.

I had the car up on four jackstands with all wheels removed already, making the access simple. I bought a few liters of ATE 200 brake fluid but ended up using only part of one can after bleeding all four corners.

Tools:
.25” ID clear plastic tubing
Big clear plastic jug with hole poked into lid to retain the tubing
10mm end wrench to bleed fronts
7/16” (I think!?) end wrench to bleed rears
10mm socket to (try and) remove stock banjo bolts, as well as to remove stock frame rail brackets
13mm end wrench for stock hard line interface
Lots of newspaper and rags to catch leaking fluid
Wife to sit in car and pump brakes

So I said ‘try’ to remove stock banjo, but it’d been ground to the point - on passenger rear - that I couldn’t get a grip on what remained of the nut, and even with vise grips I was stuck. Ended up using a grinder to basically destroy the stock brake fitting/banjo to be able to remove the bolt. Luckily the driver rear had enough bolt remaining that I was able to get a socket onto it :)

7E964E36-97A2-4F9A-98C6-B13B7BCC133E.jpeg


I started by removing the rear hoses from the hard brake lines with a 13mm end wrench. Popped on the rubber caps as quickly as I could and they seemed to do a good job sealing the brake lines from leaking any more fluid. I found out that leaving the stock frame rail braces in place made it much easier to disconnect the rear hoses from the hard lines, then once those were disconnected, I took off the braces as well as the brackets holding the hose to the upper control arms.

E19E1B77-BC85-4E8D-A15C-84BEC7891AF6.jpeg


0804B714-EBB9-41DE-8220-66D019D9E352.jpeg


Once the hoses were removed from the caliper, I cleaned up the face and used the new copper washers to sandwich the end of the new hose end to the caliper with the low-profile banjo bolt. I think it was 13mm but not entirely sure.....be careful to not apply too much torque here, as the new bolts are not as thick as the stock ones and I could see that getting ugly quick....

F40A08EB-380C-4711-9174-27545C6F8B8B.jpeg


I attached the new SS hoses to the included frame rail brackets using the retaining clips, then bolted them to the car. Next was the new brackets to hold the hoses against the control arms and away from the rear springs. I ended up bending the brackets up a touch for a little bit more distance from the springs. Now, I hooked up the flare fitting from the stock hard lines to the new rear hoses. It can take some finagling to get the hoses oriented correctly because the SS means less flex/play, but it was fairly straight-forward.

1C5449BA-4FE0-44A6-A706-7D9E0399D18A.jpeg


4F5086C3-954D-4B76-AF0C-EF4C3F6695D3.jpeg


17862CE9-BFE7-451E-81D0-C4804132CCE9.jpeg


Bled in order from passenger rear-driver rear-passenger front-driver front . Snugged the bleeder screws again (not too tight!), checked for leaks, cleaned the brake fluid from the calipers and floor, and I was done. Looks like a whole lot more room between the inner wheel lip and the new brake hardware, though I may file the banjo/e-brake just a tad more for peace of mind. As you can see, I’ll have to take the bleeder cap off also as it’s just barely touching the wheel.

BF565B00-F988-43E0-9715-388D346D8F5D.jpeg


D25BBE89-D330-44D7-A39A-9CB04E684898.jpeg


I hope this is helpful for anyone looking to install the MM hoses. I’m glad I did it and was very happy with the overall quality of not only the new hoses but with everything included as well. If I can be of help with answering any questions, please let me know!

Thanks for reading

Phil
 

52merc

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Established Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2000
Messages
580
Location
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
You made me want to puke. That car is so clean. I thought mine was fairly clean for a street driver (not daily) but your is immaculate. Nice write up.
 

D-MANN

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Joined
Mar 24, 2005
Messages
1,122
Location
ALBERTA,CANADA
I just did this last week. MM instructions are awesome. Makes this job easy. Good write up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

phil a

Active Member
Established Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2006
Messages
241
Location
Toledo, OH
Thanks guys
Now I’ve just gotta get the car back down on the ground and see how it feels. I don’t anticipate any difference in brake pedal feel nor in stopping, but who knows.

Yeah, the MM instructions are pretty solid, which made the job much easier.

Bob, sure please feel free to use whatever you’d like for your page

Phil
 

CSCOBRA03

Well-Known Member
Established Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2003
Messages
1,606
Location
Utah
Nice write up, I did that install a few years back and I agree MM does a good job on their instruction sheets.
 
Joined
Nov 10, 2021
Messages
1
Location
Pharr, Texas
Hi

Figured I’d make a post showing the install process of Maximum Motorsports SS rear brake hose install because I wasn’t able to find one - might be helpful to anyone looking to do this.

View attachment 1581075

2003 Cobra IRS: was needing more clearance to run a smaller/diameter wheel (Weld RTS). The e-brake, banjo bolt, and brake hose fitting had been ground by prior owner to fit a 15” wheel, but the RTS was a tad wider at 10.3” vs the 15x10 Weldstar that had been on before, necessitating a bit of clearancing in the inboard side of the car.

It’d been a bit of a saga.....I’d tried to run Weld Prostars in 15x9/5.5” backspace but learned the hard way that the wheels were a bit out-of-round, as the minimal clearance between knuckle and wheel ended up scoring deep grooves in the wheels and ruined them. Decided on the RTS as I learned they had a bit more clearance on their barrel by design.

Now I looked for 15x9/5.5 again but there was literally one available in the country, with backorder until mid-July....and I didn’t have the patience to wait! The wheels I went with are 15x10.3” w/ 6.5” of backspace. I knew that it’d be cutting it close in terms of clearance with the brake parts, but figured I could go with the MM kit if all else failed.

I ended up mocking up one wheel and quickly realized that there would be a good amount of interference inboard, and given that the brake parts had been ground previously, figured I’d err on the side of caution and just go with the low-profile SS hoses. The part # is: MMBK9R and I ended up ordering from LMR from this link: Maximum Motorsports Mustang Rear Stainless Steel Brake Hose Kit (99-04) Cobra MMBK9R
Fast/free shipping and no CA sales tax made the deal even sweeter

The packaging included a good write-up with black-and-white pictures, which I found to be helpful as a reference along the way. I thought it was great that they included rubber caps to put over the hard lines after taking off the stock hoses to keep the master cylinder from running dry....I’d read enough horror stories about the Cobra ABS headaches if this happens to be a bit anxious during this process.

I had the car up on four jackstands with all wheels removed already, making the access simple. I bought a few liters of ATE 200 brake fluid but ended up using only part of one can after bleeding all four corners.

Tools:
.25” ID clear plastic tubing
Big clear plastic jug with hole poked into lid to retain the tubing
10mm end wrench to bleed fronts
7/16” (I think!?) end wrench to bleed rears
10mm socket to (try and) remove stock banjo bolts, as well as to remove stock frame rail brackets
13mm end wrench for stock hard line interface
Lots of newspaper and rags to catch leaking fluid
Wife to sit in car and pump brakes

So I said ‘try’ to remove stock banjo, but it’d been ground to the point - on passenger rear - that I couldn’t get a grip on what remained of the nut, and even with vise grips I was stuck. Ended up using a grinder to basically destroy the stock brake fitting/banjo to be able to remove the bolt. Luckily the driver rear had enough bolt remaining that I was able to get a socket onto it :)

View attachment 1581076

I started by removing the rear hoses from the hard brake lines with a 13mm end wrench. Popped on the rubber caps as quickly as I could and they seemed to do a good job sealing the brake lines from leaking any more fluid. I found out that leaving the stock frame rail braces in place made it much easier to disconnect the rear hoses from the hard lines, then once those were disconnected, I took off the braces as well as the brackets holding the hose to the upper control arms.

View attachment 1581077

View attachment 1581078

Once the hoses were removed from the caliper, I cleaned up the face and used the new copper washers to sandwich the end of the new hose end to the caliper with the low-profile banjo bolt. I think it was 13mm but not entirely sure.....be careful to not apply too much torque here, as the new bolts are not as thick as the stock ones and I could see that getting ugly quick....

View attachment 1581079

I attached the new SS hoses to the included frame rail brackets using the retaining clips, then bolted them to the car. Next was the new brackets to hold the hoses against the control arms and away from the rear springs. I ended up bending the brackets up a touch for a little bit more distance from the springs. Now, I hooked up the flare fitting from the stock hard lines to the new rear hoses. It can take some finagling to get the hoses oriented correctly because the SS means less flex/play, but it was fairly straight-forward.

View attachment 1581080

View attachment 1581081

View attachment 1581084

Bled in order from passenger rear-driver rear-passenger front-driver front . Snugged the bleeder screws again (not too tight!), checked for leaks, cleaned the brake fluid from the calipers and floor, and I was done. Looks like a whole lot more room between the inner wheel lip and the new brake hardware, though I may file the banjo/e-brake just a tad more for peace of mind. As you can see, I’ll have to take the bleeder cap off also as it’s just barely touching the wheel.

View attachment 1581082

View attachment 1581083

I hope this is helpful for anyone looking to install the MM hoses. I’m glad I did it and was very happy with the overall quality of not only the new hoses but with everything included as well. If I can be of help with answering any questions, please let me know!

Thanks for reading

Phil
Will they work on a 2003 mach 1?
 

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