I can plumb and bend tubing up to the large AN sizes.. 3/16 just looks cleaner and more professional, takes up less space literally and visually. I also NEVER use rolled tubing on a street car. Just nice straight sticks. Planned right you don't have any extra joints. Rolled stuff always looks like you unrolled it at some point.
Yep, that’s another thing I would recommend to a beginner. Go to the parts store and buy a handful of the longest straight sticks they have. Don’t mess around trying to straighten out those rolls unless you have the special de-tangler. And, buy a dozen of the short nuts. I hate seeing all those extra threads on the long nuts that come on one end of the pre-made sticks. As for no-comp tube, I don’t like it. The one project I used it on required twice as many clamps because the stuff wiggled all around. It had no strength. Give me the good old galvanized steel and I will be just fine. I don’t drive my hot rod in the salted snow, and it gets put away dry after every trip.
It's not a talent issue. 3/16" can be bent on a much tighter center-line-radius, making for less unprofessional fitment.
Especially if you are using the no-comp stuff. Boil it a little, add marinara, and you could have a nice plate of spaghetti.
it will, unless you do what my dad learned. straight pieces ended up being more annoying than uncoiling some tubing, sure its not perfectly straight, but no ones gonna see it.
. If your dad is using the run it thru a 2x4 with a hole method it will still have memory and in places will look like rolled line to those that know. And as for your second point, that just shows lack of experience and your statement "no ones gonna see it" shows a lack of professionalism and a fuck it attitude towards good work. Some of us care.
I care waaay too much about stuff I can’t see and honestly since I started researching this I kind of had it in my mind to start with straight pieces as I hate the “you can tell it was rolled out” look. My car will be far from perfect but that means the areas I can make perfect (like brake lines) I want them to be perfect!
the method my dad learned was run it all the way straight off a truck, and then pull it taught. i wasnt interested in taking my body off its frame to run a brake line, so i had to have it a little bit cobbled. the rest of the line i made using the old brake line and made a mimick of it via zip ties. looks nearly factory.
Not everything has to be show quality, if the lines are done neatly and secured properly it won’t matter if they aren’t perfect when you go by a 60MPH!
for sure. It won’t be perfect but I’ll try because nothing I do is perfect so the fewer imperfections I can have the better otherwise it will all be terrible! Haha. I painted my frame recently and was annoyed about a few drips. My wife was listening to me complain about it and was like “who cares, no one will see it” to which I responded that I care and that’s all that matters. The drips have been fixed!
Oh by all means do things to best of your abilities but remember this old car stuff is supposed to be fun
Thanks all that have posted tech info on this thread already. Been following along and learning a lot. My 34 will be getting new front and rear ends in the future so a great time to go through the brakes which were put in when the var was originally built in the early 70s. I saved the image beow from the 1st page - thanks @ekimneirbo for that. 1) For those of you with expertise is there any issues with it, my master is under the floor? 2) Any tricks for getting the bends in the correct locations so the lines are correct length? Thanks Pete
Pete I used 50/ 50 solder ( plumbing type) to make prototype lines to get my bends correct. Reference your start and bend lines with a sharpie, transfer those lines to your brake line then proceed with the bending. Took me a lot of trial and error. But after a bit I got proficient at it.
Pete, a good example is that crossover hard line in the front. START on the passenger side and bend your way to the LEFT. I use 5 foot sticks. Where you terminate it on the DRIVERS side is at the Tee and that is where you dial in the final runs length. This will be the only flare you bend on that line. Some sticks of welding rod can be used to mock it up. After a few tries you can probably just freestyle it.
Thanks @nochop and @Tman really appreciate the input. To be honest doing the brakes myself kind of spooks me but looks like its something I can get my head around and learn a new skill.
We’ve all been there. There are a few vids online on how to use a bender. Pay attention to rights and lefts.
I use aluminium tig rods to make patterns as it's super easy to bend nicely or twist along its length if necessary. The rod are used for their intended purpose at a later date. The Imperial type bending tools have certain key dimensions enabling bends to be put exactly where you want them, eg on an internal 90 'wall' with the tube stood off the wall say 1/8". Makes for very neat work, removing guesswork and reducing reworks which is particularly useful if you are working with stainless tube which isn't the nicest /easiest stuff to use. I've not had similar success with generic tube benders but I'm sure Imperial isn't the only show in town. Chris
Yes, there is an easy way to do it perfectly. First I would start looking for some of the benders made like the one in the picture below. These give nice tight bends. You can also make a minor modification that will allow even tighter bends behind a fitting if needed. The simple gage you make is to take the same size tubing that you will bend, and make a 90 degree (or whatever you need) bend. BEFORE you remove it from the bender, make a mark on it right where it aligns with the front edge of the bender. Then cut the tube off so it is only maybe 6" long. Put it in place where you want the bend and see if it fits right. Once you have this small gage, you lay your real brake line in place and put the gage on top of it at the place you want a bend. The mark that you made on it is then also marked on the real brake line. Thats where you put the leading edge of your bender when you make the real bend. Click on the picture to enlarge it so you can read the information. Note: you can put the reference mark on either side of the bending tool fence as long as you remember which side you used. You can get other cheaper benders but they usually make larger bends that look amatuerish. You can find these on Ebay if you watch and get some reasonable prices. What I do with most of these pictures and info sheets is save them to a folder and also print them out and laminate them. Then I put them in the tool drawer for quick reference. Thats particularly handy with the different fitting choices. You will find that building brake lines can involve buying several specialty tools so shop ahead before you actually start bending your tubing. 37 degree flare About $75 for this one
Once again Rich B has great advice. A couple short little example pieces with the start point can be used forever in your shop.
Apologies @Busmania for the thread hijack Cheers all! For all my flares should I be doing a 45 degree double flair? Tools needed?? Flairing tool - having had good luck with Eastwood tools before saw this https://www.eastwood.com/professional-brake-tubing-flaring-tool.html Deburrer Pipe bender If buying sticks no need for a straightner?
What I found out was that as I got into wanting to flare tubes, there was a lot more tools needed than I first thought. The problem is that you almost always find something that needs a different flare than what you have tools for. They make some basic flaring sets and thats what people often buy.......then you find out you should have bought the more complete set. I will tell you up front that its better to buy a kit that does both 37 degree and 45 degree. While its not Hamb friendly, they also have kits that include the more modern "push on" connectors. Since I work with later fuel inj on some vehicles, I got a kit with those included........after I had bought a lesser set. Personally I would reccomend getting at least a kit that does both 37 and 45 degree fittings. I would also get or make a tubing straightener. Basically just some adjustable pulleys, but it does a really nice job straightening tubing. Don't know where anyone gets straight tubing at in long lengths, but coiled tubing looks very nice after running it thru one of these straighteners. I was surprised.......... This stuff isn't cheap, but it really does make things work good.
I also use roll tubing, but I've found the same thing mentioned about pulling it through a 2"x4" to straighten it, and not having it perfect. So I went to a 4"x4" with a hole drilled through it, and I waste the last inch by clamping it with my vise-grip pliers to get a good grip on it when pulling through the thicker wood. It comes up straight and maybe some can discern it once was rolled, but works for my builds.
I had good results with A middle of the road bender and double flair tool. Be careful removing the 3/6 double flair die, the little pilot thingie is easy to snap off. Luckily you can get replacement dies on amazon
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