What is a the reasoning for running a hard line directly from the master cylinder? On almost every car you see the master cylinder with hard lines coming out and bent to allow some travel in case of flex but why cant you use a soft line? My master cylinder is under the flood near the torq tube and was hoping to run a soft line right away so I wouldn't have any clearance issues as well as give me the flexibility for suspension travel.
1. hard lines are less $ and will stay where you put them. 2. The movement is minimal and yes the coil allows for that. 3. Rubber hose will "expand" a little, giving a mushier feel. The less you use the better the feel. 4. Rubber hose can fail internally creating a check valve, and that is difficult to diagnose. 5. Rubber can and will crack after some age and hose will eventually fail under pressure. 6. You can use racing style braided stainless steel hose but it is expensive and I am not sure it has a DOT approved label.
So if I have to run a soft line any ways would running it off the master cylider be ok? I dont really see anyway around it in order to get the clearence I need and the flex for suspention travel. Cheers! and thanks for the great info
There's two different issues here: A) Yes, you can run a flexible hose off the master cylinder. The reason it's not done in production cars is that they don't need to, hoses cost more and OE product managers will slit their own mother's throat to take $0.09 out of a car, hoses represent an additional possible point of faillure, etc. It is commonly done in race cars, and in various other applications, and from an engineering/safety standpoint I don't think there's anything wrong with doing so. Obviously it needs to be something appropriate for brake system use (pressure/fluid compatibility/etc. which pretty much means either a DOT-approved brake hose and fittings - find a BrakeQuip dealer with their crimping machine - or Earls/Goodridge/etc. -3 braided Teflon hose with appropriate fittings ASSEMBLED PROPERLY) with proper clearance and/or protection from anything that might damage it. B) It sounds like your issue is not so much needing flexibility, but rather a clearance problem. There's various answers to this without going to a soft line if that's what you're trying to accomplish, there's steel banjo bolts/fittings with -3 AN/JIC outlets that can be used with a steel tube nut/sleeve and a hard line with a 37-degree AN flare if you need to turn 90 degrees immediately out of the MC (and if you can find one with the right bolt size for your MC.) I'm not aware of any aluminum -3 AN/JIC fittings but just in case you run across any I would NOT use aluminum for a brake system application.
What master cylinder are you using? If it is an 80's ford style, you can try an 80's lincoln zephyr as the lines come out the other side.
I can't think of an issue that would make a rubber hose coming from the master cylinder a viable solution. we need a picture.
I can think of a situation where it would be helpful, if the master cylinder is right next to the torque tube, and you need to connect the rear brakes, then just run a flexible hose from the master cylinder to the metal line that runs back down the torque tube. I can't think of any reason not to, as long as there is adequate clearance around the flexible hose.
I've seen pix of running flex hose from a MC that's located under the floor so that the MC can be dropped down for some reason, without unhooking it. I think it was a build by a HAMBER in Ontario, Canada. He used Stainless braided flex brake line. How about an entire brake system done in flex........cool or what? And together with an entire rubber fuel line.............Super Cool!
This is the issue exactly. Thanks for all the input fellas I have eveything all ordered up now and will try and post a pic of the solution Cheers
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