OK. I got them off. I better g
OK. I got them off. I better get down what I did for the benefit of others who might try this pain in the ass job.
I did the rear left and the front left. I'm assuming the rights should be identical.
FRONT:
Inner Mounting
NOTE: I had to cut this line to get it off
NOTE: This assumes you have the outer mounting already apart.
1. Lube everything up ridiculously with penetrant. Wait. Do it again. Wait. Do it again. Preferably overnight, though I did it in one night.
2. There's very little clearance for any kind of wrench here. There are two nuts we're concerned with. First is the 11mm hard brake line nut that fits into the flexible brake line we're installing. Second is the 17mm nut/fitting on the actual flexible brake line itself that fits into the mounting. I tried a 17mm stub wrench on the brake line fitting but couldn't crack it. This is where I decided to cut the hose to get it off, allowing for a socket.
3. Cut the hose as close as possible to the 17mm fitting near the inner mount for the flexible brake line. This should be short enough to allow a deep socket to fit over it.
4. Now get your 17mm deep socket. I used a Craftsman 3/8" 17mm deep socket with a standard craftsman 3/8" ratchet drive.
5. Loosen the 17mm nut / hex fitting at the inside mount. The flexible brake line will turn as you do this, since they're attached. You only want to loosen this enough to CRACK it.
6. The big problem is that the 11mm hard brake line nut at the inside mount will be stuck in the now cut brake line's inner hex fitting. Unfortunately there's not enough room to loosen this, not that I found anyway.
7. So the idea is that we would use our deep socket and ratchet drive to loosen the 17mm hex fitting. Ideally, it would unscrew itself from the 11mm hard line nut part. Since they're stuck, you'll just end up twisting this. Note that the hard line itself started to bend a bit.
8. Yikes! This is where I immediately stopped. I was able to put a 11mm open ended wrench (flare wrench wouldn't get on!) by "feeling" onto the 11mm hard line nut part to hold it firm while I turned the deep socket on the other side. Note that you may have to do some preliminary turning with the deep socket to be able to get an angle on the 11mm nut (there's < 60 degrees clearance for it). Note that I was able to hold the 11mm nut fixed with the wrench, with the wrench extending out towards the front of the car.
9. With the 11mm nut fixed, I was now able to rotate counterclockwise (loosen!) the short part of the brake line via the 17mm deep socket/ratchet. Loosen it all the way. You'll have to manually unscrew the 11mm nut and/or continue to hold it steady with the wrench as you unscrew the now cut brake line.
10. The 23/24mm nut on the other side should be able to be easily removed. I had to hold this and the middle mouting "plate" steady with my hand as a I further loosened with socket.
11. Voila! The inside brake line is now removed. I wish I knew how to do this without cutting the line, but I really do suspect that it may not be possible.