Brake Lines

[TulsaFred]

I finished stripping the engine bay on my B/E today, and removed all the steel hydraulic lines.
Doesnt look like the vendors sell preformed steel lines. Have to bend your own it looks like.
Different materials are offered as well -

VB has steel lines in various lengths with "bubble flare ends" and the sell some type of manual bending tool. Says they dont fit early sprites with Whitworth threads.
Does my b/e have whitworth threads?

Moss sells copper nickel lines said to be easier to bend and sells a set for the b/e. They say nothing about threads. Expensive!

Thoughts on sources, type of line, and tools I should buy?
What have others done when replacing b/e hydraulics?

Fred

 

[Billm]

Why are you replacing them? Are they so rusty that they can't be used?
BillM

 

[TulsaFred]

No not so rusty
They are cruddy looking, i guess i could bead blast them.
I may have stripped the connection between the 4 way connector and the line going to the rear. It unscrewed until the last few threads then just turned but wouldnt back out any further just near the end. I had to wiggle and pull them apart.
Looks like a coupling was used to make a splice on the line from master cylinder ( Lockheed) and 4 way connector. Didnt leak before disassembly though.

Fred

 

[Billm]

I have just cleaned my lines, wrapped steel wool around them and polished them some. They work great now and are bent correctly!
BillM

 

[Guest]

Advance has bubble flare line but I don't know about Whitworth.

 

[rkep01]

According to the shop manual all threads are unc

<span style="color: #FF0000">Sorry, should have been UNF</span>

 

[Jimflorida]

I bought the Moss brake line set, and they do bend nicely--don't really need a bending tool so far. Was kind of costly, but does the trick. Jim

 

[TulsaFred]

Jim
Does the kit include the connectors/couplings?
I may have a stripped 4 way connector with brake pressure switch.
Fred

 

[TulsaFred]

If the manual says the threads are unc I dont understand the VB catalog saying early sprites have whitworth

 

[Guest]

Why are you replacing them? Are they so rusty that they can't be used?
BillM

Hahaha, have you seen his Vette? Fred strikes me as a "while I'm at it guy."

Aint nuthin' wrong with that as long as you got the time and the cake.

I believe Fred has plenty of both. :wink: :thumbsup:

Hey Fred, send me a pound of 50's if ya don't mind.

I can't wait to see this car when finished.

 

[smaceng]

I bought all my brake and fuel lines with all the fittings from fedhillusa.com. Easy to bend. Their web site helps out with all the right fittings for our Brit cars. I purchased a tubing end former from Sears.
Scott in CA

 

[Trevor Jessie]

There should be no couplings in the bugeye brake lines. Definitely no compression nut couplings.

 

[Whitephrog]

I took my old brake and fuel lines to Royal Brass and Hose. They did a great job creating new steel lines properly bent with the correct fittings.

 

[TulsaFred]

Thanks for the tips guys, keep them coming this will be a good resource thread.
And, yes, I have serious issues with the "while I'm at it disease". I am building a driver though, not a show car. A nice driver .

The coupling definitely is a repair, not original.

What do you guys think about steel lines vs the Moss copper lines? Seems like copper would be easily damaged.

Anyone confirm the threads on a bugeye Whitworth or unc? Threads at mc, 4 way union, and wheel cylinders.

Looks like VB is rhe only vendor listing the 4 way union but not sure of quality or threads.

Fred

 

[TulsaFred]

Scott,
Great link! fedhill seems like a great source for brake line stuff.
Fred

 

[Roger]

Fedhill are excellent, and Cunifer tubing is too. Easy to work, and super-safe. First used by Volvo, I think, in production cars.

 

[BlueMax]

Brake tubing has two sides to it, one that you can see and one that you can’t. People make their brake tubing decision on half conclusions which in my book is dangerous. Majority of car manufactures today manufacture their brake tubing out of steel alloy which is fine provided that you do an annual brake flush. The brake fluid that is used in today’s cars is hydroscopic which means it absorbs moister. We know that most of the car owners are not going to the expence to flush fluids to prevent the moister to accumulate in the braking system.

Volvo did an extesensive research in brake tubing and concluded some very interesting results. What Volvo did is developed brake tubing that is the best for the busy car owners of today. This is what they concluded. Standard steel alloy tubing had the best resistance against bursting for up to one and a half years, then the tubing would begin to corrode on the inside and the burst strength begin to drop substantially each year after. They tested copper, and copper work well but the burst strength wasn’t high enough. They also used stainless, but that was brittle and the cost was unreasonable. So what Volvo did is they develop an alloy of copper and nickel, which is called Cupro Nickel. With extensive testing the Cupro Nickel alloy bursting pressure was greater than the alloy steel after two years and maintained that bursting strength for ten years and only showed a very slight change after fifteen years. On top of it all the burst pressures were only a few hundred pounds difference when they compared each one while new. Volvo has Cupro Nickel on all of their cars. In my view Cupro Nickel is the only way to go for product durability and reliability, especially in a car that you intend to keep.

 

[sparkydave]

I bought the copper-nickel alloy brake lines from Moss. My original brake lines were pretty rusty, inside and out. I think the only time I used the bending tool was making the sharp bends near the master cylinder. Everything else I did by hand, using the originals as templates. The line going across the front support to the right front wheel was the worst to reproduce.

I was replacing the master cylinder and replacing the seals in all the wheel cylinders while I was replacing the brake lines, so I switched to silicone brake fluid. No rust, no leaks, and after 5 years the fluid is still crystal clear. Also put it in the clutch system and no problems there either.

 

[jlaird]

Moss copper lines are not copper, just partly so and will not give you a prob.

I can not find the company web site that makes the preformed lines for us, gesh. Someone help.

However you should fine the Moss lines just fine.

 

[John Kuzman]

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