DIY spiegler stainless steel front brake line install

[00NissanNinja]

Alright, so I got some custom lines from Spiegler. You can order the lines in a variety of color combinations and they are of very high quality. This is how I installed them you may find better methods. To begin get a bottle, DOT4 brake fluid, your front brake line kit, a piece of clear aquarium tubing, and brake cleaner if needed plus tools of course. The kit will come with banjo bolts and aluminum crush washers.

step1line.jpg

Inspect your line to make sure there are no problems and compare to the stock brake line. In order for mine to fit I had to rotate the top brake fitting. Spiedler includes two plastic blocks that you grip in a vise (I used a c-clamp) and a plastic piece that you insert in the middle to rotate the brake fitting.

step2line.jpg

Alright got it lined up so next the brake fluid needs to be drained out. Be careful not to waste any on the bike as brake fluid will eat your paint. If you do get it off asap. Next get a 8mm wrench and remove the rubber plug from the brake bleeder valve.

step3line.jpg

Attach one end of the clear rubber hose to the bleeder valve

step4line.jpg

Place the other end of the hose in the bottle fill the bottle with a little bit of brake fluid and submerge the other end of the tube in the fluid.

step5line.jpg

Next bleed the fluid from the bike by doing this procedure:
1. place you wrench on the bleeder valve
2. Now pull the brake in and open (loosen) the bleeder valve the lever should now move into the grip easily.
3. Close the bleeder valve (tighten) and then release the lever.
4. Repeat until flow of fluid stops
Now open the master cylinder by removing the two screws. WARNING these screws are super soft I had to drill the head off of one. I used a phillips #2 and the first came out super easy. Anyways be careful. Have a towel under the master cylinder just in case some fluid leaks out.

step6line.jpg

Remove the rubber gasket or you can leave it for now up to you

step7line.jpg

Now to remove the stock line get a 12mm socket and remove the master cylinder banjo

step8line.jpg

Then a 10mm socket to remove the support...

step9line.jpg

Then the caliper banjo bolt. Some fluid may leak out so have a towel ready...

step10line.jpg

Remove the middle support from the stock line. It won't be tight on the new line but it will keep it where you want it. Its bendable so bend it open and then stick it on the new line. Route the new line through like so...

step13line.jpg
step14line.jpg

Arrange the banjo bolt as shown. You should have bolt-aluminum washer-brake fitting-aluminum washer-into caliper or master cylinder
step11line.jpg
And here it is attached to the master cylinder...Ignore that I closed it up again testing the new bolts I bought haha. Tighten up the bolts hand tight. Check everything out and then tighten to 18ft-lbs. The new banjos where 14mm

step12line.jpg

Reattach our brake bleeding apparatus with the bottle to the caliper and fill the master cylinder. It is best to fill the master cylinder with the wheel turned all the way to the left (at least on my bike) to make the fluid level (Not pictured all the way to the left BTW).

step15line.jpg
step16line.jpg

Brake Bleeding procedure again:
Keep an eye on the master cylinder fluid level. Do not let it run dry or you will get air in the system again.
To bleed the master cylinder simply pump the brakes until no bubbles can be seen rising out of the system. Don't mistake that for fluid being pushed out quickly out of the hole in the bottom of the master cylinder. For the rest of the system:
1. Pull your brake lever in
2. Open the bleeder valve you will see bubbles and brake lever will pull in easily
3. Close the bleeder valve
4. Let go of the lever completely
5. Check fluid level and top off if necessary
6.Repeat until no more bubbles are seen leaving the system 1-5
7. Top off fluid level to the top line of the reservoir (can be seen as an actual metal line)
8. Replace the rubber gasket and top cap. Tighten your screws and test for brake feel. Brakes should be firm.

And that is it

step17line.jpg

Enjoy your new brakes, hope that helps some of you. At first I didn't feel it changed much for as brake feel but the brake power has increased quite a bit. I skidded to a halt quite easily a few times. Be careful on those first few rides. Also as a side note these lines are DOT and TUV approved so they are legal for street use. Additionally they include a lifetime warranty. Best place to get the lines is from sportbiketrackgear.com.

[Alex]

Good job!

/linked from the main DIY sticky

[Lou]

Great wright up! Pics help a ton. How about a pic with a little more distance i have an 09 se and am interested in this

[00NissanNinja]

Originally Posted by Lou

Great wright up! Pics help a ton. How about a pic with a little more distance i have an 09 se and am interested in this

Sure, I can probably snap a couple tomorrow. It looks pretty nice. Its subtle but your eyes get drawn to the green haha.

[00NissanNinja]

Some more pics I snagged before leaving to work, as requested...
10032011108.jpg
10032011109.jpg

I'll probably do the rear brake line in the future, probably once I hit 15,000 miles since you are supposed to replace the lines by then anyways (or inspect them don't remember). I already have 10,000 on my bike, its getting older haha.

[Lou]

Thnx for the pics. Looks great guy, my green 09 is also getting older 12000, might just look into this when i service the lines.

[00NissanNinja]

Originally Posted by Lou

Thnx for the pics. Looks great guy, my green 09 is also getting older 12000, might just look into this when i service the lines.

That's getting up there, Did you get yours new? Yeah I figure its a pretty good replacement and we have to replace the lines eventually. After some rather stressful riding today with about three different cars cutting me off (really not a good day) these brake lines really increase the braking power.Made for some pretty effortless emergency stops.

[Lou]

yeah got her brand new , so you could positively feel the difference with the new lines then. Runing the EBC HH pads?

[00NissanNinja]

Yep I am running EBC HH brake pads as well. I felt like those pads sucked at first took some miles before they really started working good. Probably will try them on the track next and see if my top speed on the straights increases a bit thanks to the added braking power. Tried a canyon run but way to much traffic since people wanted to look at the trees haha.

[00NissanNinja]

So one quick thing to add. I noticed some scratchy noises up front on my bike if I braked hard enough. I found that since the front end of the bike dives so much the brake line was rubbing on the metal on the support that comes off the forks. So to remedy this:

I got the old brake line and cut the rubber piece off with a knife I cut a slit across the rubber so it can be slipped over the new line:

10212011130.jpg

This is what you will end up with:

10212011131.jpg

It won't be super snug on the new line but it will keep the line from rubbing the metal. Pic 9 from the beginning shows where to place this piece at. Slip it over the line then the metal bracket and then bolt to the bike.

[Zyconic17]

thank you so much! i was nervous to do this by myself until i saw this! helped out a ton! well done!

[00NissanNinja]

Originally Posted by Zyconic17

thank you so much! i was nervous to do this by myself until i saw this! helped out a ton! well done!

Cool, I hope this is helpful!

Will add rear brake lines soon. Had them on my bike for awhile just haven't had time to add them to the DIY.

[menikmati]

Just completed the rear yesterday and will use this guide as I do the front, thanks for the help both in this thread and through PMs.

[randomwalk101]

You got them directly from Spiegler?

[menikmati]

I bought my set from Sportbiketrackgear.com

[00NissanNinja]

Originally Posted by menikmati

I bought my set from Sportbiketrackgear.com

[00NissanNinja]

So this can now be Spiegler brake lines install. The rear DIY is going to be a little more streamlined since you are doing basically the same thing as the front line install with just a few different things.

So to begin bleed the brakes as usual in the same procedure:

Step1rear.jpg

1. place your wrench on the bleeder valve
2. Now press the brake pedal and open (loosen) the bleeder valve the lever should now move into the grip easily.
3. Close the bleeder valve (tighten) and then release the pedal.
4. Repeat until flow of fluid stops
Next open up the reservoir (taken after I was done so its really clean). You will first need to remove the keeper bracket by removing the following screw:

Step2rear.jpg

Then you can unscrew the reservoir cap and set it and the keeper bracket aside.
My fluid was kinda gross had little bits floating in it so I wiped all that mess out of there.

step3rear.jpg

Now with the fluid removed the bolts for the stock brake line can be removed, as always have a rag ready to catch any dripping fluid
This bolt:
step4rear.jpg

and this bolt as visible from previous pictures:
Step4.1rear.jpg

Pull the line out towards the back of the bike and through the brake line keeper. Grab the new line and thread it through the brake line keeper and then bolt it to the rear caliper. Remember banjo bolt-->aluminum washer-->brake line fitting-->aluminum washer and then into the caliper/master cylinder.

step5rear.jpg

And at the master cylinder:

step6rear.jpg

Depending what mods you have done to your bike or plan to do now is a good time before bolting the line on tight to do any final rotations or angling of the fittings so your brake lines clear whatever you plan to stick back there like a hugger.

Bolt the lines down hand tight and then tighten to 15lbft (Can't edit my original post but that's all you really need hand tight should be fine too as long as you check for leaks). The reason I say this is that I now realize that the bolts are aluminum which makes them much easier to break by over tightening the bolt. So I say err to the side of being just tight enough to not make leaks.

Fill the reservoir with new fluid and reattach the brake bleeding apparatus. Bleed the brakes same as the fronts once again. Bleed the brake until the pedal regains firmness and check for leaks and if there are none that is it, done deal.

step7rear.jpg

Finally, this is how I rotated the fitting if that needs to be done(which I mentioned in the front line install)

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[Alex]

[gfloyd2002]

Just wanted to say thanks to Nissan Ninja for a great DIY. Used a Mity Vac to help pull the fluid through. Between these instructions and the Mity Vac, took about 45 minutes with no problems at all.

The results were beyond my expectations. I regularly test maximum braking in front of my house from 40-0, 30-0 and 20-0 stops. With these stainless lines, there was noticeable improvement in the stops. Less sponge in the front brake particularly made it easier for me to apply right to maximum, which in turn allowed me to use rear brake a bit. I'd say overall improvement for me was about 5-10% in stopping distances.

[00NissanNinja]

Originally Posted by gfloyd2002

Just wanted to say thanks to Nissan Ninja for a great DIY. Used a Mity Vac to help pull the fluid through. Between these instructions and the Mity Vac, took about 45 minutes with no problems at all.

Cool glad it worked out well for ya

[cuz]

This is were I got mine from.Have yet to install them.
http://www.shop.kyleusa.com/product....categoryId=103

[choneofakind]

Install those bad boys! You'll love them.

[kevheads]

Originally Posted by cuz

This is were I got mine from.Have yet to install them.
http://www.shop.kyleusa.com/product....categoryId=103

Same here, just got mine in the mail from kyles last friday, still sitting in the package, didn't want to install them the night before I left for Indy, probably this weekend, but was thinking about ordering some EBC pads and doing it all at the same time.

[cuz]

@kevheads I went w/versah + the give u a sanding block how cool is that... Very





http://kurveygirl.com/shop/product_i...roducts_id=353

[kevheads]

got my fronts installed today, went pretty easy, feels alittle different from stock, doesn't seem to have as much pressure applying the brakes as before, new ones seem to grab closer to fully pulled in, though they seem to work just fine.

Cuz, did yours come with new banjo bolts from Kyle's? Mine didn't, I just used the old ones. I assumed they should have came with new ones since OP has gold ones to match his banjo's and said they were 14mm instead of stock 12mm.

[Alex]

Bleed them again.

[choneofakind]

definitely bleed them again. When I did mine, I found that I wasn't pulling the handle rapidly enough and didn't get all the air out.

They're solid when you get them bleed right.

[00NissanNinja]

Originally Posted by kevheads

got my fronts installed today, went pretty easy, feels alittle different from stock, doesn't seem to have as much pressure applying the brakes as before, new ones seem to grab closer to fully pulled in, though they seem to work just fine.

Cuz, did yours come with new banjo bolts from Kyle's? Mine didn't, I just used the old ones. I assumed they should have came with new ones since OP has gold ones to match his banjo's and said they were 14mm instead of stock 12mm.

Yes they should come with new banjo bolts and washers (at least where I ordered from). And yeah like the others said try bleeding the brakes again its rather tricky to get all the air out the lines. Took me multiple tries to bleed them.

[cuz]

@kevheads nope have to use the oem :/

[kevheads]

Originally Posted by 00NissanNinja

Yes they should come with new banjo bolts and washers (at least where I ordered from). And yeah like the others said try bleeding the brakes again its rather tricky to get all the air out the lines. Took me multiple tries to bleed them.

Yea, after I posted I went back out and bleed them a few more times and they got better. They came with new crush washers but no bolts, but I ordered green lines with black banjos so the stock ones were the right color at least.

[sharky nrk]

I had a hell of a time getting mine bled, even with speed bleeders and a pump.

[00NissanNinja]

There is a technique I saw that I might try one blue moon to bleed the brakes. Its basically reverse bleeding them by injecting new fluid though the bleeder screw and into the master cylinder with a big syringe. Sounds like a good way to get all the air out.

[gfloyd2002]

The Mity Vac is pretty cheap (about $30) and does the job quite well. Keeps things nice and tidy and gets the air out much more quickly and reliably than gravity. You create suction with the hand pump open the bleeder valve, keep the reservoir full and it happens very easily. I'd never bled my own brakes before (I know, I'm lazy and always just relied on the local shop) so I took my time and fiddled around with doing it different ways just for my own education. Was able to do it no problem using instructions below and the Mity Vac - much simpler and more idiot proof than gravity bleed that I tried first. Recommended.

[choneofakind]

idk, once you master the gravity bleed, it takes about 60 seconds to blow all the bubbles out...

[sharky nrk]

I have tried gravity, force feed backwards, mity vac, and speed bleeders. None have been particularly fool proof or easy. All have been better than straight hand bleeding.