Brake lines--what am I doing wrong?

[john g]

We received our 818 three weeks ago and have so far installed the front and rear suspensions, steering, pedals, and of course the cockpit aluminum. I've run into my first problem when working on the brake lines.

Could my Subaru parts possibly be SAE and not metric? Or are the purple metric to SAE converters somehow the wrong part? I pose the question because the purple converter did not thread easily into my master cylinder. I tried two, just to be sure, and neither seemed to thread properly. I then tried the brake like from FFR and that seemed to fit. Curious, I tried the FFR lines (clearly marked in fractions) in the donor flex lines, and they seemed to fit. I figured I must be wrong, so I tried again with the SAE to metric converter in the master cylinder, this time using a little muscle. My mistake, the converter came out with some aluminum from the master cylinder.

Any suggestions before I do more damage?

Thanks,

John Green
Silver Spring, MD

[Quiny]

That's strange what year was your donor? I just finished my brake lines and bled them today. I didn't use the adaptors I flared the lines and used metric male fittings. The sizes are close and the SAE fittings will thread into the metric female threads but it is a loose sloppy fit, it doesn't work the other way around the metric will not fit the SAE female threads. Do you have a thread gauge to check them?

[Goldwing]

Could you possibly have an aftermarket master cylinder? Perhaps it isn't subaru? I'm just guessing here. I went to look for markings on mine (07 sedan donor). Sadly, the bottom markings are covered with hose clamps holding my remote mount bracket in place. There is a "67S" imprinted in the end of the cylinder, and a P by the primary port. Any of that sound familiar?

The Subaru reservoir has a sender in it to send a signal when it gets low, but I suppose the reservoir could be mounted on another master if compatible.

[Wayne Presley]

The MC is a 10mm fitting.

[john g]

The MC is a 10mm fitting.

I took the master cylinder to the local auto parts store and they had an adapter that fit perfectly. I went home and tried it on the clutch master cylinder and all brake lines with the same positive result. I then tried the other adapters supplied by FFR and found that three threaded into the brake lines and master cylinders without problem, but five would not. Seems like I received a few defective ones.

John