I don't think you'll get an answer. Firstly, this really is the wrong forum to ask -- the cartalk forum guys will treat speeding by 5MPH as a heinous crime, so operating a vehicle with faulty brakes? They won't help you with that. But secondly, in this case it's true, this is very unsafe. Those brakes can lock, particularly on slick surfaces. High temp brakes, well... the high performance braking systems people get higher temp parts for ALL use 4-wheel disk brakes, I don't even know if anyone makes a truly high temp shoe and drum. The higher performance brakes tend to grab a little though, making it even more likely you'd lock your brakes.
Get a shade tree mechanic to help you, brake lines are not expensive, and I know I couldn't install them but I've watched someone do it and it's not excessively difficult to do. That $100 you're planning to spend could probably pay for the lines and labor for a shadetree to do it.STOP DRIVING THIS CAR NOW!!
Please consider the ramifications of your bull-headed, selfish thinking. Your driving a car with basically NO BRAKES. ON PUBLIC STREETS. WITH UNSUSPECTING PEOPLE, ESPECIALLY CHILDREN! You don’t care about your own safety, fine. But your risking the lives of other people with your reckless behavior. 35 mph is plenty to kill people.
Fix this car or let me come by and disable it for you. This car in this condition is a menace on the roads. Pray to god you don’t injure someone in an accident. You’ll be in a world of hurt for years if they find out what your doing. This could become a felony case, easy.
Personally, I think the car should be impounded and your drivers license revoked.
That being said, why do the lines need to be replaced? If it’s due to rust then you should ask yourself what else on the brake system is rusted to oblivion; and why not the rear lines?
Surely you didn’t perform the old stunt of squashing the brake lines flat with a pair of side cutters?
Believe it or not, many people wind up dead in collisions involving far less than a 45 MPH speed.
To answer your question, No. Not many Mazda Protege are raced.Front brakes are usually upgrded more so than rear brakes.
Good response, but it should say “driving is a privilege, not a right”.
Mystic; please learn the meaning of the term “Criminal Negligence”. The courts apply this when an accident occurs where the guilty party knowlingly causes the injury or knowlingly neglected to safeguard equipment, including automobiles. It also applies to drunk drivers causing injury or death.
If you are involved in an accident causing serious injury or death, your insurance, if you have any, will be VOID, you face jail time, and may lose your driver’s licence for many years.
The way you are driving now, you are a prime candidate for a Criminal Negligence charge should you have an accident.
Come on guys, give me a brake! 
But you need four brakes…
I know, I know, it’s a serious matter but I couldn’t resist.
And thanks for all the good advice. A lot of quality answers. Got me pretty scared and motivated to fix it properly.
ok4450, what “old stunt” are you talking about. Why would someone purposely damage their car?
If it were up to me, you’d be in jail and your car impounded.
Good point
I appreciate that
You’re free to jump off of a cliff and kill yourself but no one here is going to cut you any slack for endangering everyone around you.
Plow into someone (say a kid crossing the street on foot) and when the ensuing investigation shows the brake issue that exists with this car you can bet that you will be facing negligent homicide charges at a minimum.
How about providing some info about this problem and maybe, just maybe, some of us may be able to come up with an acceptable fix that won’t cost a lot of money.
I decided to take a quick look at the AutoZone site and brake lines are available in various lengths - cheap.
An approximately 4 foot long line was a whopping 6 bucks and change. Other lengths are available also on the cheap.
Nope, a compression fitting and union are supposedly very different. I was told to stay away from the compression fitting because it “has to be perfect or it will leak”.
Thanks for the heads-up about why welding won’t work. Good to know
What sort of info did you have in mind? I can tell you one of the lines is broken about a foot or two from the left rear wheel. And the other is in the mid back of the car. Probably about mid-trunk.
Just what I thought. Your just jerking our chain here.
I thought the rear brakes work fine! Now it’s the rear brake lines that are broken? Grrrrrrrr.
Just in case anyone is curious: I just got back from Midas and they told me $300 to fix it but they wouldn’t touch it because they’d have to remove the gas tank to make the repair.
This probably explains why the first estimate was so high.
I wouldn’t say they work fine. I have zero pedal brakes. I’ve been using the hand brake/cable brakes for the last year and a half.
I wish I was jerking your chain
Just when you think that it couldn’t be any worse.
If you can’t afford to keep your car in safe running condition, you can’t afford to drive it. It’s as simple as that.
What you are doing is criminal.
If / when you seriously hurt or kill some kid, you will wish you had been arrested before the crash, not after.
Edit: “accident” was the wrong word for this case of criminal negligence.