Building fuel, brake, and transmission lines.

lennyjay

lennyjay

Well Known Member
Copper Nickel Brake, Fuel, transmission line, Coil Tubing Kit 3/16 1/4 5/16 3/8 CN3 CN4 CN5 CN6 bought from ebay. I tried to use steel brake lines several times, making my own flairs, very difficult to bend and get the flair to seal. I do have USA benders and flair kit. Used 5/16 tube and made a fuel line in 30 minutes with no leaks. Smallest I could find was 25 foot coil in each size, but an auto part store may carry shorter lengths.

This Is 4 Rolls Of Coiled Copper Nickel Brake Fuel Transmission Line, Used For All Automotive Applications, Standard Automotive Spec .028 Wall Thickness. This Is The Softest Tube On The Market - Bend By Hand, Flare With Any Flare Tool - Even The Cheapest Lowest Tool Will Still Flare This Tube. Easy To Work With. Worth The Extra Cost Over Zinc Or Stainless If you Are Bending Your Own With No Experience.

Here are the spec's:

Inline tube Copper Nickel Tubing Coil

All Inline tube tubing conforms to the following:
  • Bends 58% Easier Than Steel Tubing
  • Clean finish inside and out
  • Leak and vibration resistance
  • Copper Nickel Does Not Rust Or Corrode And Is DOT Approved
  • Specifications:
  • SAE J1047
  • SAE J1290 ISO 4038
  • SAE J1550 GM123M
​
 
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427John

Well Known Member
Lenny,I feel your pain on getting the fares to go if you get stuck on getting good ones try calling your local hydraulic hose supply house, here in spokane its called house of hose,they have hydraulic machines for setting those flares and can make super nice ones.My local place has no problem doing them for a reasonable price while you wait if you only have a couple you can't get yourself.If you have a line that has a sharp bend close to the flared end you will want to have them make the flare before you make the bend because they need a certain amount of straight tube for the machine to grab it.
 
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427John

Well Known Member
La Hot Rods said:
That is what I have been using after the last stainless job I did. Not sure I would ever use stainless again.
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Stainless is really hard on tooling that has to deform the metal,back in the 50's when Ford would make a few stainless steel bodied cars they would wait till the end of the model year after the normal production run because the stainless would wear out the stamping dies after just few sets.
 
JED

JED

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 5
I am currently bending 3/8" annealed stainless for my fuel injection feed and return lines on the '33 roadster. I am using the line bender tool made by ECI that has a mandrel for 4 different sizes (3/8" is the largest) and have had good luck with it. This is the return line. Everything is also -AN 37 degree flares and fittings. I am on hold right now because FedEx keeps losing the 8' straight hard line for the feed side (FedEx has lost 3 shipments in 4 weeks so far with the last one lost yesterday. Doesn't cost me, but does screw up my schedule. A replacement shipment should be here Friday coming by UPS this time.) I don't like the coils because, without a pricey straightening tool, I can never get the lines straight again.
2020_08_29-FuelRtnLineFinal-IMG_2649-c.jpg2020_08_29-FuelRtnLineModel-IMG_2637-c.jpg
 
boxerdog

boxerdog

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 5
You are right about the coils, but I probably won't use any more stainless unless it is a simple carb hookup, even though it is readily available around here in straight lengths. It's hard on tools and time consuming. Now maybe if one used compression fittings rather than flaring it you could save some time, but the nickel/copper stuff is really nice to work with. I might have to buy a straightener...
 
Junky

Junky

Well Known Member
['sOTE="1958 delivery, post: 519572, member: 1494"]i bought a mastercool hydraulic kit, haven't used yet but hope it's as easy as they show[/QUOTE]

The best tools in the hands of the inept can't fix a leaking garden hose, and the poorest quality tools in the hands of the experienced can do wonders. Whenever I see demonstrations of how easy some tool is to use, I have to think to myself, how many hours of training did the person take, before he became proficient in its use. I have learned after years of trying that sometimes the learning curve to use specialty tools is quite an uphill battle. I have looked at the Mastercool kit, and realized that I would have to do a lot of flares to make it worthwhile. I use my old tried and true double flare kit that I bought in the 1960's. I have gotten good at making flares in steel tubing, and the last time, I used a piece of the new nickel copper tubing, and it was like working with soft butter. Sure wish that they had invented it 50 years ago, when I was first learning how to flare. Would have made it a lot easier. I remember making the same flare 3 times before I got it right, back in 1959, when I was replacing the rusted brake lines in my 1955 Chevy. Back then, all that I cared about was that they didn't leak, and that the car would stop. Nice smooth curves were only important on the women that I dated, not my cars brake lines.
 
Jim Sullivan

Jim Sullivan

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 10
Junky said:
['sOTE="1958 delivery, post: 519572, member: 1494"]i bought a mastercool hydraulic kit, haven't used yet but hope it's as easy as they show
Click to expand...

The best tools in the hands of the inept can't fix a leaking garden hose, and the poorest quality tools in the hands of the experienced can do wonders. Whenever I see demonstrations of how easy some tool is to use, I have to think to myself, how many hours of training did the person take, before he became proficient in its use. I have learned after years of trying that sometimes the learning curve to use specialty tools is quite an uphill battle. I have looked at the Mastercool kit, and realized that I would have to do a lot of flares to make it worthwhile. I use my old tried and true double flare kit that I bought in the 1960's. I have gotten good at making flares in steel tubing, and the last time, I used a piece of the new nickel copper tubing, and it was like working with soft butter. Sure wish that they had invented it 50 years ago, when I was first learning how to flare. Would have made it a lot easier. I remember making the same flare 3 times before I got it right, back in 1959, when I was replacing the rusted brake lines in my 1955 Chevy. Back then, all that I cared about was that they didn't leak, and that the car would stop. Nice smooth curves were only important on the women that I dated, not my cars brake lines.[/QUOTE]

You're right about the cost of the Mastercool hydraulic flare tool. The only reason I purchased one was I had to replace all of the fuel and brake lines on our old 97 Pontiac Bonneville. We were getting ready to sell it and the shop that does our inspections, mentioned to my wife how bad the lines were rusted. She didn't feel comfortable selling the car with the lines in that condition. The deal was, I would replace them all only if we purchased the Mastercool flare tool. Worked out well for me. I do enjoy making lines for our older cars, not as much on the newer cars.
 
1958 delivery

1958 delivery

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 2
I don't mind spending a little for quality tools that make life easier for me. I have a snap on manual flaring tool that's worthless, I don't have time to waste with crap tools. Kind of the same with "project cars" rust buckets are a waste of time an in the long run money too.
 
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427John

Well Known Member
I'm thinking that the secret to the flaring tool that you have Junky is that it was made in 60's out of the high quality steel that was available then,I suspect that the cheapest tools from that era are better than the higher end quality stuff available today.
 
Junky

Junky

Well Known Member
Most of my tools are from the 1940's, 1950"s, and early 1960's. When I was getting started, I was told by an old timer that Snap On was the best, so every time that I ran across an old timer that was retiring, and selling off his tools, I would buy them. Those that were badly worn, I would give to the Snap On dealer, and he would give me a new one to replace it. I also bought a few new tools from him just to keep trading my used for new. The excess that I didn't have a need for, I sold to others like me that were just getting started. It worked out well, and I do have some strange old things in my tool box, like a Chrysler ball joint socket, torsion bar adjusting kit, and quite a number of odd ball wrenches. I probably should just start to sell off most of what I have, but today, all the young guys want Metric tools, not SAE. At one point, I had acquired a compete set of Snap On sockets and wrenches in Whitworth. I never liked working on British cars, so I gave everything to a friend that had a MG. I guess that is why they called me the Junkman!!!
 
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