Fuel and Brake Line Replacement

[kschachn]

My daughter's 1996 Accord needed new tires and a few other things, and while test driving it after repair I stepped on the brakes a little harder than usual and heard and felt a "pop" in the rear. Bottom line is that the brake line to the right rear wheel was severely corroded above the fuel tank and finally let go. I had been looking at the lines in the front every time I change oil, but had not noticed that beginning about halfway back they were in poor condition. So I ended up replacing both brake lines and all three fuel lines, plus a new fuel tank and pump. Not as difficult a job as was the work on my old BMW (the line routing was pretty direct), but the Honda way of securing the five lines to the body with a plastic cage was somewhat weird and difficult to work with. I got help on this job from a good friend who is a much more capable and patient mechanic than I am. Anyway, I thought it might be interesting to someone who does not live in the rust belt and doesn't drive 24 year-old cars. The pictures really don't show most of the routing and lines, and they look more "sloppy" than they actually are. I used Nicopp tubing since that is what I used on the BMW and it worked well. The fuel supply line had a kink in it which we cut out later and spliced in a new section, not only did it have the kink but it ended up being about 1" too short to meet up with the nylon line coming down from the fuel pump.

 

[KGMtech]

thanks for sharing, but I'm confused...is this old Honda silver? blue? or green?

 

[Hall]

That is AMAZINGLY clean for a 24 year old, midwest car ! You should have taken and shown the "before" pictures !

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted by hallstevenson

That is AMAZINGLY clean for a 24 year old, midwest car ! You should have taken and shown the "before" pictures !

+1

 

[kschachn]

Originally Posted by KGMtech

thanks for sharing, but I'm confused...is this old Honda silver? blue? or green?

It's green. The bright green parts are some areas above the fuel tank that had some rusty spots that I sanded down and painted with the green Rust-Oleum I happened to have laying around. You can't see it now that the fuel tank is in place. Yes it really is amazingly free of rust considering most if its life it lived in the salt zone. Whatever Honda did to paint/coat these cars back in 1996 worked well.

 

[BigGeo]

Nice job. Your daughter lucky to have a helpful dad.

 

[kschachn]

Originally Posted by hallstevenson

That is AMAZINGLY clean for a 24 year old, midwest car ! You should have taken and shown the "before" pictures !

The fuel tank was shot, it was heavily rusted in the front (I punched a hole through it with a screwdriver) and the lines on top were rusted. It is getting harder and harder to get parts from a dealer and I noticed that this time some of the ones that were available came with a special tag that said "Vintage Parts." The price has escalated as well on some of them compared to the last time I looked.

 

[eljefino]

Nice clean work. Those were the golden years for those cars.

 

[WyrTwister]

Originally Posted by kschachn

My daughter's 1996 Accord needed new tires and a few other things, and while test driving it after repair I stepped on the brakes a little harder than usual and heard and felt a "pop" in the rear. Bottom line is that the brake line to the right rear wheel was severely corroded above the fuel tank and finally let go. I had been looking at the lines in the front every time I change oil, but had not noticed that beginning about halfway back they were in poor condition. So I ended up replacing both brake lines and all three fuel lines, plus a new fuel tank and pump. Not as difficult a job as was the work on my old BMW (the line routing was pretty direct), but the Honda way of securing the five lines to the body with a plastic cage was somewhat weird and difficult to work with. I got help on this job from a good friend who is a much more capable and patient mechanic than I am. Anyway, I thought it might be interesting to someone who does not live in the rust belt and doesn't drive 24 year-old cars. The pictures really don't show most of the routing and lines, and they look more "sloppy" than they actually are. I used Nicopp tubing since that is what I used on the BMW and it worked well. The fuel supply line had a kink in it which we cut out later and spliced in a new section, not only did it have the kink but it ended up being about 1" too short to meet up with the nylon line coming down from the fuel pump.

I replaced a damaged steel brake line in my late teens / early 20's . A real pain ! :-( I thank God I do not live in the rust / salt Belt ! :-)

 

[SatinSilver]

Originally Posted by eljefino

Nice clean work. Those were the golden years for those cars.

Yes the fifth generation Accords are one of my favorites. Ran from 1994 to 1997 with the refresh coming out in 96. I wanted to sell my 94 Civic to get one of these but would take too much of a hit with the numbers.

 

[SatinSilver]

Have any oil based rust proofing products ever been used on the car? Most of the ones around here have the rusty rear wheel arches.

 

[kschachn]

Originally Posted by SatinSilver

Have any oil based rust proofing products ever been used on the car? Most of the ones around here have the rusty rear wheel arches.

Not that I'm aware of, but I am not the original owner.

 

[bbhero]

You really did good man... And like others have said that car is in very good shape given location.