Folks,
After discovering that my Tiger and Alpines have
both bubble ends and flare ends (on the same brake line) I
went down and purchased a Performance Tool, Double Flare
Tool. I had already purchased an assortment of British
brake hoses with bubbles on both ends. I figured I could
modify one bubble to a flare and that would take care of
the long pipe on the rear axle. The short pipe that goes
to the flexable hose has flares on both ends ( as well as one
female fitting). I thought I could reuse the fitting and make
up a neat new line.
Well I took an old brake line to pratice on. @$#!%@*&^
Followed the instructions to a T. The 3/16 brake line would
slip out of the tool every time I tried to do the first half
of the double flare. Tried clamping the tool in a big vice
plus clamping with a Channel Lock tool. Still slipped.
wrapped some aluminum foil around the pipe where it was clamped
with no luck. Finally added valve grinding compound into
the tool's clamping "teeth". This sort of held the brake
line, but after 10 tries I still can not get even close to
a good first stage of the flare.
Thinking about heating the end of the pipe up and
annealing it a bit. Could the old line be work hardened?
Do not want to try the new material until I can get a good flare
on the old pipes.
I cut the tubing square on the end, deburred the inside
and chamfered the outside. Spaced the tube as indicated
and followed the rest of the instructions. No Luck.
I tried different amounts of chamfer and that didn't help.
I made sure the old pipe was not rusty , oily or scratched.
The pipes, both old and new were .186 OD. The clamp is
.176 ID when empty and closed. I even tried cutting oil
on the first stage tool with no luck
Any one had success doing a double flare on a Tiger
brake line?
James Barrett Tiger II 351C and others
|