May be a stupid question but here goes. I'm about to run the fuel and brake lines on my car and was wondering what to use, or even better what not to use. Copper, aluminum, steel, stainless steel, etc.? I was thinking either copper or stainless for fuel and plain steel for brakes? Would like to know what you guys out there are using and why. Any help is appreciated thanks
I'm going to be doing mine in a month or two. I'm going to use the cuprio-nickel lines. They don't rust, and have an almost copper like look to them. They will be very visible on mine.
stainless steel. murray's (o'reilly's) now sells coated (painted) steel brake lines. they bend up and seal well.
Copper will work harden from vibration. It will then become prone to cracking and failure at points of stress.
steel or ss for brake lines ONLY !! if using copper for fuel , have at least one end in fuel line (rubber or ??) . i like the red fuel line myself . ........ steve
Steel for brake lines, stainless is very hard to use, anyone will tell you. SS is for show cars. Fuel lines, again steel is best for most rides. I usually find the stuff (larger dia. then brake lines) hanging next to the strait brake lines in auto parts stores. For nostalgic hot rods, I'll still use copper for fuel lines. Used in conjunction with rubber from the firewall to the engine, it is safe to use. My 60 year old hot rod is proof. Today's race catalogs sell aluminum fuel lines in coils. I've had limited use, still with good success. But, it's really for modern race type cars
Aluminum, steel and stainless steel will also work harden if not supported properly from vibration. Copper is fine for fuel lines as long as it is supported properly.
3/16th steel lines for brakes. They form to fit real nice, and a double flare is common on these lines, and easy enough to do in a home shop. If you buy premade lengths from any auto parts house make sure you get the american or U.S. thread and flare right. You can get a 3/8th 24 U.S. thread but with a british double flare if your not carefull. FYI Speedy bill sells all the different premade lengths you might need at a substantial savings over local parts houses even with shipping. As for fuel lines I am going to use steel. Why change what works? Kinda funny you are asking. I just spent the whole weekend running brake lines on the 28 chevy
I buy 5/16 and 3/8" coated steel from McMaster Carr for fuel lines. 3/16" (25' roll) coated steel from Speedway Motors. Stainless is a pain-in-the-***! Some don't but I've always double flared brake lines.
I'm sure I'm not telling you guys anything you don't already know, but it's "possible" to use the nifty painted lines that bend easy IF you cut off the metric ends, buy the individual fittings with SAE threads, put 'em on there and then use your double flaring tool... ...I wouldn't use them, but a lot of furrin' cars had some copper brake lines from the factory...scary.
Certain places carry annealed stainless tubing that is a bit easier to work with. I purchased the street rod kit from inline tube supply and was happy with the results. Had a few problems double flaring, but worked through it just fine. It was my fault-didn't have the tube perfectly centered while flaring. Link http://www.inlinetube.com/top ****ons bar orange/catalogrequest.htm If you don't need the shiny stuff and just want longevity, the armor plated line(coated) from o'reilly's works fine.
alright thanks guys. thats pretty much what dad said as far as using steel for brakes and copper or aluminum for fuel. i'm always looking to see if theres anything better though
I was thinking of salvaging brake lines from Volvo's, they contain cuprio-nickel lines. Found this outfit from M***achusetts but I haven't ordered from them yet -> http://store.fedhillusa.com/
Just did the fuel and brake lines on mine and went seamless 3/8" steel for fuel and steel for brake lines. Both were easy to work with and flare, and bending was a snap too.
The dark stuff the parts stores sell, is that what you mean by coated? The problem I have with that **** is it's too soft, every time I've used it, I crank the **** out of my connections, get it bled, go out and make some hard stops and the line pressure opens up and makes it leak someplace. Every time. Tightening it further stops the leak, but they should not do that. Apparently the force I can put through the line is more than I can easily apply to the fittings, and it squeezes the flare down a little more, resulting in the leak. If I could avoid it I would.
Plumbed my 40 pickup project this afternoon and used the steel for both fuel and brake. Measured and bought the standard lengths but as usual had to change a couple ends. Bent easily and looks good..
I just plumbed my 34, bought all the stuff from my local NAPA store, 3/16" for Brake same stuff in 3/8" for fuel, easy to work with, I had trouble with my flairs until I bought a Eastwood Flaring tool. now all is good, Dave
Napa sells it here. It's more than plain steel. The problem with cheap steel lines is they rust so easily. The cuprio-nickel isn't the coated stuff. It's better and also a little more money
All brake lines should be double flared!! Those who don't, shouldn't be installing their own brake lines. They might be behind you when that last little bit of brake fluid stopping them leaks out.
I have used both steel and stainless steel for brake lines, the steel is of course the easiest and cheapest to work with, Earl's makes the neat little stuff to eliminate a double flair on the stainless if you want to go that route.
I used 1/4" brake line for my brakes because that's what Vern Tardel recommended in his book. For gas I wanted to use this copper coated steel line that I picked up from Dennis Carpenter's but it's 1/4" so I am not sure if that's big enough for a 4x2 fed 283.
I used all of it on mine. I was not real impressed with how the cunifer flared. Maybe it was just me. The green coated stuff from NAPA cut and flared nicely, even though they said not to. I just used 5/16" zinc- coated steel for my fuel lines this weekend.
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