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Restoring brake, gas lines

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ichthos

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I am still at it trying to put my car together. This week, I am putting in the brake lines. I know this is more vanity than anything else, but what do you guys do to resore brake and gas lines in your cars so that they look good? Mine are a little rusty, but I was thinking of getting them plated, powdercoating them, or painting them after bead blasing them. Since they have witworth threads (bugeye) I don't even know what they would cost to replace. Thanks for your help.
Kevin
 
I would just buff then up to a nice shine and use POR 15 clear coat to keep the shine. Or use one of the Eastwood metallic paints to do the same thing.
 
New pipes are cheap, replace them. They used to go by the name Bundyflex I think. No they aren't whitworth threads. UNF 3/8, Or you can reuse the fittings by making a new bubble flare on a new pipe.

Over here, slight rust on the brake lines is enough to fail the safety inspection. I understand this as one time I was blasting down route 50 in my Austin America and wanted to turn right onto a side road. The rusted pipe burst and I was lucky enough to have a service road to escape onto. Otherwise it would have been a tree or something.

I know copper pipes aren't allowed in USA, but they don't rust and I'm very glad to have them. And they polish up just fine.
 
racingenglishcars said:
I was blasting down route 50 in my Austin America
Click to expand...

thanks for that image - I would never have thought an Austin America could blast anywhere.
grin.gif
 
"I know copper pipes aren't allowed in USA"

This would have to be something in a state with inspections, but I use the Cunifer brand stuff and have not had any issues.

I vote for new fittings if you are going through the trouble of doing new lines. No good reason other than I hate putting ugly fittings onto the pretty lines that I spent an hour making (cutting/bending/flaring).
 
Does anyone know of a source for new brake tubes? IIRC there is a product that is shipped in a large roll, but then straightens out once removed from the box. All I can find around here is tubing in a tight coil that needs to be straightened by hand and eye. This ends up looking somewhat wavy on long runs. Or is there a place to buy straight brake tubing in 20 foot lengths as I don't want to put a splice in the middle if I can avoid it.
 
Try your local auto parts store. You will have to flair them for the correct ends but the tube is fine.
 
The longest length of 4.75mm my local NAPA stocks is 5ft long.
 
Trevor, where are you getting the new fittings (tubing nuts) for the bubble flares? There is a difference between those and standard nuts for US type double flares.
Westfield, what type of car needs a 20 foot long brake line? Even on my MGA the longest line I would need between the master cylinder and either the front or rear brake union is about 5 feet.
 
jlaird said:
Try your local auto parts store. You will have to flair them for the correct ends but the tube is fine.
Click to expand...

All my guys have are 25 foot coils of mild steel tubing, that's the problem. My Westfield kit came with an 8 foot length of tubing, but I figure it will take several attempts to get it bent correctly. Also I am departing from the plans in this area due to previous changes.

I don't need the full 20 feet, but the 8 feet I have now is shorter than I really need. Heck, 10 feet would be fine if it was straight. I know the way I do things and fully expect to have to do this job a couple or more times before I am satisfied.
 
Are you sure bug don't have witworth threads? I thought I saw in Moss that they didn't carry the brake lines for bugs because it was stated that witworth fittings were no longer available. Also, wouldn't I have to bend all the pipes myself? Most of what I do on this car is a first for me. I had to flair brake lines before and I was not happy with the results. Does anyone sell them prebent and flared, or can a shop do this? Some of the fittings look worn from wrench slipping. I would like to replace these if possible. I didn't know copper lines were not allowed. I had seriously thought about copper plating them for the reasons you mentioned. There already is some copper tubing in my car that appears to be stock for other applictions. I thought it might look nice to copper plate them. Do you know if it is legal to just copper plate them? I will check a local parts store, but any further suggestions on where to get the lines are greatly appreciated.

Kevin
 
Thanks Trevor, that went in my favorites file for sure. Now I may slip off the wagon and have to buy one of their neat flaring tools, being a confirmed tool junkie that hasn't had a big fix in quite awhile. LOL "Santa, what I really want for Christmas is ......"
 
Westfield_XI said:
Does anyone know of a source for new brake tubes? IIRC there is a product that is shipped in a large roll, but then straightens out once removed from the box. All I can find around here is tubing in a tight coil that needs to be straightened by hand and eye. This ends up looking somewhat wavy on long runs. Or is there a place to buy straight brake tubing in 20 foot lengths as I don't want to put a splice in the middle if I can avoid it.
Click to expand...

If you are lazy, call Classic Tube and Line... www.classictube.com They sell entire kits of prebent tubing.

Fits perfectly.
 
I'm pretty sure that there are absolutely no whitwhorth threaded bolts or connectors on a frogeye, the brake lines are normally (in the UK at least) UNF, which are still easily obtainable here if somewhat limited in choice.
Graham
 
I thought there were some Whitworth threads on part of the fuel system. Viscous rumor? :wink:
 
There are fasteners on SU carbs that take a Whitworth wrench. The threads, however are BSF (British Standard Fine). Whitworth threads (BSW) are a coarse thread and found in few places on any LBC. Some small fasteners on SUs are BA (British association), a fine thread series in small sizes.
Marv J
 
In fact it is the large jet retaining nut on the bottom.
 
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