[sick472]

I don't know why but I can't see your photos, there are just squares with "X"'s.

Anyhow, The coat hanger trick will work very well for laying out short runs. Combined with a marker and/or tape and a good eye you can accomplish a lot. Use heavy fence wire if you need a complicated long run.

If you decide that stainless tubing would be really cool, check out the prices for a high-end flaring tools because the cheaper flaring tools for regular steel line will NOT leave you happy. You will have to redo the lot of it just to keep it from leaking. Stainless is a whole other deal and those tools get real pricey. Don't ask me how I learned that lesson! If you buy the good tools, stainless becomes much easier, but you'll be out a few hundred dollars to get the right flaring tools.

The biggest learning curve to running your own lines is keeping the intended bends that need to be made to the straight piece right in your head as you size the line up and then move to the bench to do the bending. This is where a wire mock-up really helps. It is also tricky to get the bend to start and stop right where you want it, so only bend half of the bend at a time until you get the hang of the tools. This way you can finish the bend a littler earlier or later depending on the fit you need. Straightening a bend out can easily ruin your tubing.

Do not paint yourself into a corner, so to speak, by merely starting your bends at one end and working your way down the line to the opposite end. Often you will find that bends in the middle have to be made first so that the bending tool can be used to make the next bend in line. This is a little hard to explain without waving may hands and making faces, but bends that are close together may have to be done in an particular order for the bending and flaring tools to be applied. This can really be an issue if you are bending a line that is partially installed on the vehicle because you may find that the vehicle itself gets in the way on using the tools. Sometimes, in order to get the line in position you will have to put some of the bends in the tubing, then install it partially on the truck, then make final bends and adjustment.

You can see how "wrapping your head around the project" could be difficult...think out the route, pick the order in which the bends need to be made, then make a bend, prefit the line near where it needs to live, and continue to the next bend.

I don't intend to make it sound scary. It's actually quite fun as long as you tink it through twice before bending. Otherwise the project may "wrap itself" around your wallet with the purchase of more tubing.