[Healeys] Brake line

[Kees Oudesluijs]

Stainless steel brake lines are not always recommended. Some claim the 
s-s lines can fatigue crack. It is also hard to bend and flare.

Supposedly best are Cunifer brake lines. Marine grade material first 
used in brake systems by Volvo in the 70´s I think. They are tough and 
do not corrode like the steel lines do. They are fit and forget.

You can get complete made up sets, however they are usually packed in a 
roll and you have to bend the pipes yourself, but the lines are cut to 
the correct length, flares are already made up and the correct fittings 
already fitted.. The bending can be done by hand easily but ideally you 
need a bottle/pipe/tin/wheel/wood block with the right curve to prevent 
kinking. If you are very careful all can be done free hand.

Copper lines are also offered, but generally not recommended as copper 
may harden, get brittle and fatigue crack. Very easy to bend and make up 
flares though.

Forget the silicone brake fluid (DOT 5) for normal use. If there is 
water ingress it will separate out on the lower parts i.e. wheel 
cylinders and can cause havoc. Use conventional DOT4 or 5.1 and replace 
every 2 years.

I replace my engine, gearbox and rear axle oil every year and at the 
same time all other fluids: brake fluid and coolant (blue/green).


Kees Oudesluijs




Op 23-7-2018 om 08:20 schreef John Spaur:
>
> Pipe bending is an art …--and switch to stainless (If you decide to 
> use stainless steel be prepared for it. The flaring tools are 
> different! Single flares, you can succeed most of the time but quality 
> control is difficult. Double flares, maybe once or twice if you are 
> lucky until the tool breaks. The best advice it don’t use SS unless 
> you have the right tools or have a shop flare the lines. You should 
> also install copper cone washers between the SS flare and the brake 
> line seat. It prevents galling of the seat. Oh… the washers are hard 
> to find and hard to install; but you can make them.)
>
> I bent the SS lines for my BT7 and then had a local brake wholesale 
> supply shop flare the lines. I don’t recall what I paid but it was not 
> expensive and it was in and out the same day.
>
> John Spaur
>
> ’62 BT7
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Support Team.Net http://www.team.net/donate.html
> Suggested annual donation  $12.75
>
> Archive: http://www.team.net/pipermail/healeys
>
> Healeys at autox.team.net
> http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo/healeys
>
> Unsubscribe/Manage: http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/healeys/coudesluijs@chello.nl
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://autox.team.net/pipermail/healeys/attachments/20180723/a7b971e7/attachment.html>