Stainless Brake and Fuel Lines

[lavron]

Has anyone replaced their hard lines (brake and fuel) on their car with stainless? Or is there a better choice?

Also what are the tubing sizes? Is stainless hard to bend and would a tubing bender be a good investment? I have a flaring tool and I assume it will flare stainless as well.

I guess any suggestions on replacing all the hard lines on my Comet is what I am looking for.

See Ya,
Mike

[comethead]

I think you need special flaring tools for stainless. It's pretty hard.
I bought a 25' coil of the mild steel 3/16" brake line on eBay. Easy to bend and flare.
Once the lines were made and fitted and ready to install I clear coated them and they still look good.
If your gonna make your own lines tube benders make it easy but you can use big and medium sockets.

Joe

[lavron]

I think you need special flaring tools for stainless. It's pretty hard.

I figured it was pretty hard, they have a bunch of different kinds of tubing on eBay, like nickel/copper, zinc coated, etc.

I like the idea of clear coating them as well, my goal is to stave off as much rust as possible.

See Ya,
Mike

[poboyjo65]

I used pre made lines from oreilys. I think it was 2 5 footers & a 2 or 3 foot one for the back & the fronts were 1 5 ft for the right side & a shorter one for the left. I have 2 couplings on the back lines but these couplings have inverted flares - made for brake lines. I have a cheap tubing bender for the tight turns.

I wanted stainless at first but it just didn't seem worth all the extra cost for tools & material.

[Lip Ripper]

Stainless is awful to work with. It will break your die's; trust me.

SW

[Lou's Comet]

Has anyone replaced their hard lines (brake and fuel) on their car with stainless? Or is there a better choice?

Also what are the tubing sizes? Is stainless hard to bend and would a tubing bender be a good investment? I have a flaring tool and I assume it will flare stainless as well.

I guess any suggestions on replacing all the hard lines on my Comet is what I am looking for.

See Ya,
Mike

I would think stainless would be the best choice. Actually replaced all the brake lines on a customers truck this week with stainless and wasn't too bad of a job. They look REALLY good!! They came pre-bent with ends and such for the truck. They did bend the longer ones in half to fit in box but they bent back to straight. You may be able to just buy them pre-bent for your car if you were going with stock routing?

I plan on using stainless for my Comet, not that far along yet tho. From what I have read and people I talked too you want the stainless line to be double annealed?? Not sure what that means but line that isn't has a tendency to split when you flare it. Wall thickness .028 instead of .035 flares better. Gonna need a good flare tool. The cheaper ones won't do it. I have a buddy that did stainless on his car and he bought a hydraulic flare tool that he said I could borrow when needed. A tubing bender definitely good investment. And think a cheaper one would work. I have a few pieces of stainless left over from the truck I will see if my bender works on it this week.

If you do stainless maybe cut and bend all your lines to fit your car and find a shop that has a hydraulic flare tool to flare the ends for ya ?? or maybe the auto parts store rents the tool??

The stainless really looks good on the truck. And wasn't too hard to bend, had to take the shipping bends out of them and had to bend the ends some to get them to line up/fit right did it by hand.

Lou

[lavron]

I plan on using stainless for my Comet, not that far along yet tho.

Well me either, you are farther along than me, I am interested in what you find out, and the suggestion to find someplace to flare them is a good one, I can check and see if they rent one at the parts store too.

Looks are not extremely important for them (ok somewhat) but longevity is what I am looking for, regular old steel ones would probably outlast me

Not sure what I will use yet so looking to see what everyone has experienced or recommends, I have never worked with stainless lines but if I had them, knowing me, I would be polishing them I guess I am trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, probably won't succeed but I will have a mighty nice pig ear when I am done, and I have always been kinda partial to pigs.

See Ya,
Mike

[sgtfixit]

Mike...I used NiCop for all mine...was not as much as, and easier to work with than the stainless. And it's good lookin' to boot!

[vicegrip]

Mike...I used NiCop for all mine...was not as much as, and easier to work with than the stainless. And it's good lookin' to boot!

+1 on NiCop,easy to bend and flare,less chance of leakage that's common with stainless,DOT and NHRA approved.

[barrys65cyclone]

I have always used pre bent stainless tubes from classic tube not worth the bother making up lines when you can have them pre bent unless going custom.

[lavron]

not worth the bother making up lines when you can have them pre bent unless going custom.

Well nothing will be stock anymore as far as brakes go, however that doesn't mean the main ones would not work but have to be able to bend to changed master.

See Ya,
Mike