i'm just looking for a place to get tubing from to run brake lines/fuel lines. anyone know of any good places in the Houston area....or online...i'm not having any luck searching. thanks.
You can find this stuff in a rack at most NAPA stores. Plus the HomeDepot might carry tubing as well. I know the AutoZone carries tubing in 4 different sizes. Have you tried a junk yard and pulled some lines from other rides, then all you need to do is clean them out with some thinner. Good luck, Maximo
you can get the 5"-60" pieces with ends from pep boys, autozone..... you can get the 25' roll from napa with no ends. i used the pre made pieces for the brake lines so i wouldn't have to double flare them (i did need to do one) and the 25' roll to do the fuel line.
YearOne also sells a "starter kit" or something like that...it's a roll and several fittings. www.yearon.com Our website ****s and is hard to find things in the search function, but with a little persistance you can find it. -Brad
The larger tubing benders make bends far more easily. I would check a true local auto supply store or something like a MAC tools or "Pro" truck, to see what some quality flaring tools look like. Then you've got some current info on the better brands available.
truthfully, i went to the local Northern Tool + Equip store....had everything, bender (just the smaller hand held, which works great!), cutting tools, and the double flare tool. all decently priced and NOT as ****py as harbour freight stuff. seems to be working good so far. but i also don't have a TON of crazy bends to do....
I use a normal hand bender and a small alternaror pulley and a Sykes Pickavant flaring tool (not sure if you get the Sykes tool in the US but its the best thing i've ever used)
NAPA sells the brake tubing fittings as well i just checked into this myself for a project I'm doing.
If you go with stainless buy a quality flairing tool. I tried Jegs' 37 degree flairing tool ($19.95) and destroyed it on the first flair. It worked ok on the mild steel I had done earlier though.
If you want stainless tubing try Aircraft Spruce, good prices on 3/16 inch stainless tubing and also all of the tube nuts and sleeves to make the line up also AN fitting. My flairing tool is a WWII Marine aircraft mechanic kit that I got from a friend whos dad was a Marine aircraft mechanic. It is really neat not only will it do single and double flairs it will also bead tubing and it is all operated with my favorite tool. A big hammer!!! Rex
Here's one of the places where spending the long(er) dollar will pay off huge. I bought a Snap-on flare kit when I was 17 (15 years ago), and paid $93 for it. The same kit is up to $120 now, and worth EVERY penny. It comes with a high-quality tubing cutter, which is one of the keys to successful flares. I've flared a lot of lines over the years, stainless and mild steel, and I've never had a flare fail, and I've never cracked one with this kit. I added a couple of cheap dollar-bin small files to the kit so I can de-burr the inside and outside of the tubing before making the flare, but I didn't do that until a couple years ago. I also have a cheap Blue-point 3-sizes-in-one 90-degree bender. I hate it. It's a quality tool, and has never screwed up a bend, but the radius on the bends is huge, and it only does 90-degrees. But it's affordable, and I've put up with it for 15 years. I recently tried another cheap bender, and it busted. My friend's did too, both on the first use. The best ones are from Rigid tools. They make a VERY tight bend, up to 180-degrees. Problem is, they only do one size tubing, and they're about $60 each. Good handles though, and much less effort required while making the bend. Start with the Snap-on kit. I don't have the number, but it comes in a red plastic box, has a chrome tubing holder with huge wing-nuts, a very nice tubing cutter, and 5 round dies to make the flares. Instructions are pasted inside the lid...follow them completely, and you'll have great results. Also, all automotive flare fittings are 45-degrees, NOT 37...there are no 37-degree fittings on an OE vehicle. 45-degree double flare. 37-degrees is for industrial hydraulic lines. A/N (army/navy) fittings are 37 degree, but you'll need expensive adapters to use on your car. Finally, no pipe thread tape on the flares...the seal is made where the flared tubing end meets the br*** fitting's seat--the screw threads just hold that union together. If there's a leak, the fluid will get between the seat and the flare, and leak out between the nut and the tubing, not between the threads of the nut and the br*** fitting. To fix a leak, loosen/snug/loosen/snug a few times. I recently had one fitting with a collapsed seat, but that's rare. For plugs or other situations where there is no flared fitting, then use the tape. -Brad
Autozone, they sell it in up to 4' lengths. I used it on the 55 to redo the whole fuel system. The only issue was making sure the couplings were tight and didn't leak. PS...the guys at Autozone are normally idjits. It's hanging in the back on a rack...make them look, it's there.
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