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Replace brake lines BT7

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dvu101

Jedi Hopeful
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I am working on a rebuild of wheel cyls and calipers, master cyls, hoses, and slave cyl. Should I replace the metal brake lines? If so, should I use stainless steel, copper, or origional? My car will not be all origional. Also have any of you used the stainless steel bleeders I have seen on the internet? They are advertised as one man bleeding and never rusting. 5 for $35, brakes and slave cyl. Thanks Scott
 
Hi Scott , I don't have any preference on the brake lines. I replaced the ones on my BT7 with the conifer lines , and had no problems. As for the one man bleed system . I tried those also , and could not get them to work at all. A waste of $35 if you ask me.
Good luck
 
Scott--

Do NOT use copper.
 
Back in the 80s or 90s, I bought a set of the "copper alloy" pipes that Moss was then selling, as they were about the only ones commercially available at that time, and was very concerned about their durability (EXTREMELY soft).

A couple of years ago, I bought a full set of stainless steel pipes from Classic Tube (they advertise in most magazines) and I am EXTREMELY happy with this product. Most of the lines are bent to within a 90-98% accuracy, and only the longest pipe was bent (wide radius) in half to fit in the box. It was easily straightened for installation. There were a few bends that I had to fine-tune for an optimum fit (used my 1/4" instrumentaion tube benders-my former career trade) and the results are outstanding. I highly recommend Classic Tube for ALL the hydraulic lines; they were not even expensive!

As for the Speed Bleeders, I know of several people (a dozen, at least) that use them on their BMW M Rdstrs and rate them very high. While most use them in conjunction with a pressure-bleeder of some sort, they allow for a quick purge of brake fluid at track events without all the fal de rah normally associated with brake bleeding. I do highly recommend that protective caps be placed over the bleeders under normal driving conditions.
 
Michael, I had been leaning towards to copper because I fugered stainless was too hard to work with. Is copper just too soft or something else?

I have never used the Classic Tube but that sounds like the way to go now.
 
If you google "copper brake lines" you will be pointed to numerous sites with a lot of good info--here is one for starters: https://www.dimebank.com/BrakePlumbing.html

As you'll see there are various kinds of lines available including copper/nickle alloys, but if you are talking straight copper do not use it as it work hardens and will eventually break.
 
THanks Michael. Classic Tube contacted me today and they seem to have a good deal for the whole stainless steel system for 225.
 
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