duneaholic

Hey guys. Was needing some help in identifying what these lines are that are rubbing up against the lower shift box? I was installing my MGW shifter and saw this. Pretty sure it's not supposed to be doing this. They are solid steel lines and look to be form fitted but seem to be riding too high and really aren't wanting to budge from where they're at. Don't think they are fuel lines since I can see them down lower. Any idea on what they are? I bought the car used so there's no telling but it doesn't look to be anything "southern engineered"..? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

RogerRamjet21

If you have the Z51 option, they may be oil cooling lines for the transmission. Can't say I remember seeing those when I installed my MGW shifter though (I have the Z51 option package).

duneaholic

Not sure I have that package or not. I ended up putting it off cause I don't have the rubber boot that goes around the shifter base. There's a Hurst on there now that looks in not so great of shape. I bought the car used back in November last year with only 32k miles but never did care for how it felt shifting. When I just now took it apart to put in the MGW I noticed that three of the top bolts holding the top shift box to the lower box were loose and one was MISSING! Yikes. Can't wait for shift boot surround (whatever you call it) gets in so I can get it done! I put a piece of self adhesive foam I had for a truck tailgate laying around to seperate the linkage rod from the lower shifter box. Hopefully when I take out the old shifter I'll be able to maneuver it out of the way somehow.

RogerRamjet21

Quickest way to tell is if you have drilled rotors (assuming the original rotors are still on the car which at 32k is probable).

RogerRamjet21

Z51 Rotor

k24556

I think those are the brake lines going to the back wheels. Oil cooling lines are much bigger and are routed outside the torque tube tunnel (IIRC). The service manual says to put a big putty knife between the brake lines and the shifter box (my term) when lowering the drivetrain to do something like change the clutch or remove the tranny or diff for service.. What happens is if a previous tech lowered the rear transaxle without the putty knife in place, the "shifter box" snags them and bends them. The brake lines usually have some plastic U shaped retainers near the shifter. I would suggest just carefully bending the brake lines out of the way with a block of wood, as long as you don't put a kink in one. The damage has already been done by someone before you, so I don't think you will add to the issue by just bending them to clear. If the rub, that might be a problem down the road, wearing a hole in one of the lines. Otherwise you would have to drop the mid pipe,the torque tube tunnel cover and fix the bent lines

duneaholic

Thanks for the help guys! I don't think it is a z51 but it does have drilled brake rotors but the guy that had it before me did it. I will be oh so careful moving the lines out of the way! That does make total sense now that I look at it K24556 if it was lowered without being moved out of the way.

duneaholic

Here's a pic of my Vette. Anyone recognize it? Came out of Houston.

k24556

Good looking Car. Like the color and black wheels

k24556

Everything is so friggin' tight in the torque tube tunnel, it is common to see the brake lines bent like yours. It was worse in the early C5's as there were 4 lines in there IIRC. The putty knife can drop down during drivetrain lowering and you don't notice it. All you can do then is say a few cuss words and open a brewski to cool off.

3X2

There are 4 lines. The smaller ones are for the rear brakes, one large is fuel from the tank to the engine, the other large one goes to the evap solenoid. If the fuel line is kinked enough, it will restrict fuel flow. The trans cooler lines are silver in color and are bolted to the bottom of the torque tube.

duneaholic

Yeah they're the smaller lines. There's two ganged together that are rubbing the bottom shift box. I'm thinking it's the brake lines. These are dark in color.

Excind

Trans cooler lines run down the passenger side and the easiest way to check to see if it's a z51 is to look at the sheet in the glovebox. They are in alphanumeric order.

Unreal

100% those are the brake lines for the rear of the car.

duneaholic

AGREED! Thanks

k24556

In between my recent post to this thread and today, a friend brought his 2010 C6ZR1 with a gummed up clutch slave and master. We installed a remote bleeder for him. I took some photos of the car and the open torque tube tunnel to show the fuel and brake lines. His C6ZR1 has 5 lines (not counting the trans cooler lines which bolt to the bottom of the Torquetube). Here are some pic for everyone's viewing enjoyment.

duneaholic

Dude! Wow! How in the hell did those lines get so out of place! Any ideas? Thanks so much for those awesome pics!

Unreal

My guess would be someone snagged them when installing the torque tube and pushed them up and out of the snaps/retainers that hold them in place.

duneaholic

Well I plan on putting in the mgw shifter soon and when I take out the stock shifter I was going to try and push the brake lines down some ever so gently. Does this sound like something that should be doable?

k24556

Well, they all were bent. Those photos were taken before we lowered the drive train. The car had been to the dealer twice before for the clutch pedal stuck to the floor disease . So little guessing who, since they were the only other people to wrench on the car before we fixed it correctly. We've done several C5's and C6's including Z06's, this was the first ZR1. If you think stuff is packed tight on a C6Z06, they are open air compared to a C6ZR1. We had to watch the S/C Plenum, as it just touches the firewall cowling as the rear cradle clears the four retaining bolts.

Yours seemed to be bent upward in your photos which means they were bent on the way down and caught again on the way up. Be sure to look carefully for kinks, and as one of the posters mentioned, look carefully for kinks in the fuel lines too. It sucks to find needless damage like this and you can't go and **** on the tires of the guy that did it.