Hot Rods Aluminum Brake lines

Another problem is the constant pulsing.
No pedal, no pressure, = no material expansion.
Push on the pedal, pressure (10 to 1250psi), = material expansion.
A material like aluminum or copper will only do that a few times before it bursts. The higher the pressure, the shorter its lifespan will be.

Mike

 

Nope. They just have a coating.

 

The steel lines from Napa have some green coating on them.

 

I meant Advance Auto Parts. I know that you have the lines.

 

Funny. After I posted I thought that's what you meant. I'm 45 mins from the border and have never seen an advance auto parts here. A lot of NAPA, Car Quest and then there's Canadian Tire.

 

All brake lines need to be double flared or ISO flare. ISO is what a lot of OE stuff is using. I believe it was used in Europe first to replace double flared. Stainless will not double flare, so 37 degree flare with AN fittings is acceptable.

 

My original idea was that the HAMB'er on here who was using aluminum lines would read that they were unsafe and change them before some thing bad happens but I guess that didn't happen...

 

Cheaper than stainless steel, and more rust proof than the regular brake lines....and it flares and bends like a dream.

 

For what it's worth, my 29 Duesenberg still has the original copper brake lines on it and they still work fine. 87 years is a pretty good track record. I have no reservations at all about using copper brake line on stuff that I'm working on today. My daughter's 99 Ranger ended up losing the brakes twice due to rust holes in the steel brake lines. That is scary! I ended up replacing them all with the copper nickel stuff.

 

What Duesenberg used in 29 would meet or exceed their specifications for the job and also would have been extensively tested by them before they used it.
It WASN'T a low grade copper line pulled from a hardware store shelf like the stuff we have now.
Without a lot more investigation, the only realistic comparison you can make would be in colour!
That Copper/nickel brake line I would love to try. Sounds impressive!

 

I've used copper-nickel for the past 25 years or more. No problem with double flares. Very easy to form and no corrosion problems.
I'd never use just copper as I know it does split, and aluminium? Never!
Stainless-steel (as has been mentioned) is great for brake lines, and looks (IMHO) a huge amount better than the copper-nickel. Far more difficult to work with, but the results are well worth it.

 

Copper Nickel or Kunifer is the brake line of choice here in the UK. Hot rodders are pretty much the only people who use stainless in the UK and it is difficult to get outside of hot rod parts suppliers. The other popular alternative is Goodridge braided stainless flexible brake line with either swaged or compression fittings.